Broken Lives
by jaymelynn143
Summary: Veronica left after s3e20 with a secret. She became a Detective, but a case has got her forced into a vacation of sorts, so she heads to Neptune. Veronica is in way over her head with a stalker, will a certain old flame bring her back from the brink of destruction. Can her life be normal? Who wants her dead and why?
1. Chapter 1

Veronica Mars

A/N: Trying my hand at Veronica Mars. I like the show and just watched the movie. Like or not!

"Mr. Mars, your daughter has suffered head trauma as well as severe bleeding from her injuries. We are going to have to keep her for some time. She had to have several stitches to the back of her head due to the explosion," I heard the doctor telling my dad as I tried to open my eyes.

"I understand all that, but you said that I had to come pick up something. I don't understand what that meant, if my daughter is lying in that bed," I heard my dad saying. I wanted to yell 'no' because he doesn't know, but I can't move anything. I am stuck in this bed unable to protect the one thing that has been mine for the last 5 years.

"May I call you Keith," the doctor asks.

"Yes," my dad says.

"Your daughter has a little girl, who is sitting in the waiting room with her sitter since the report of this hit the media," the doctor says.

"I think you have the wrong person. Veronica doesn't have any children," my dad says as my heart machine goes into over drive. This wasn't how I wanted my dad to meet her. No I hadn't meant for anyone to meet her, but then again things never go in the direction I want them to go in.

It has been three days since I was injured, and in that time my dad has sat beside me absolutely silent. I have heard bits and pieces of his conversations with Alicia, but nothing important. He hasn't spoken to me just yet, I feel like I have let him down on so many levels.

"Dad," I call out as I enter the small kitchen in my apartment. I have been home for two weeks, and my dad has stayed at my place for all of that time.

"In here," he calls out as I look into my little girl's room. He was sitting on her bed reading her a book.

"We need to talk," I say softly as he gently places her down. I watch as he kisses her forehead and places the book they were reading on the nightstand.

"Veronica," he says as he exits the room.

"I think it's time for you to go home," I say as I sit down on the couch. He follows me sitting beside me.

"Why?" he questions looking at me.

"Why, because you have a home in Neptune, don't you miss Alicia?" I snap just wanting him to go.

"Yes, but you need me right now. They all understand that," he says as he goes to place his hand on my knee. I flinch away from him, surprising him and me.

"I want you to go," I say quietly.

"You don't want me here," he snaps.

"Dad, it's not that. I need to get back to normal. I really have enjoyed you being here, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Yet, I want to just forget what happened and move on," I say pleading with my eyes for him to let it all go.

"I will go home, but not right now. The doctor said you needed to take it easy for a month or so. I'll leave after that appointment if my help isn't needed. I want to get to know my granddaughter. A granddaughter I wasn't aware I had until a few weeks ago," he snaps at me. I knew this was coming but I just didn't think it would be in the middle of me asking him to leave. Damn it!

"What do you want me to say?" I question him as I get up, and walk over to my daughter's room closing the door all the way.

"I want to know why you kept her from us. Veronica, why wouldn't you want us to know," he questions me as he stands up reaching out for me.

"Because I left that life behind me, I didn't want to be influenced back. I wanted to make something out of my life without my old life resurfacing" I yell as I feel the anger washing over me. "I knew if I told anyone, you'd all try to convince me that I should come home. I didn't feel like Neptune was my home anymore. I knew about her before I left." I say softly hoping he wouldn't catch on. I glanced over in his direction and saw that he was thinking back to when I left.

"Veronica, oh my God what the hell were you thinking? Damn it, why didn't you tell him," he snaps as he walks to the door and walks out of it not to return. I had finally made the one link to my past leave me.

It's been 6 extremely long years since I had been home. I had been so stressed when I left that it really hadn't mattered to me, yet as I saw the 'WELCOME TO NEPTUNE' sign on the side of the highway my heart started to race. I didn't want to be here anymore than I knew my father didn't want me to. He rarely calls me anymore, and if he does it's to speak to his granddaughter not me.

"Mommy, there's water," my 5 year old says from the back seat of my hybrid.

"Yes, there's water." I say frustrated with my own thoughts. Why was I even here? Right, I knew why!

(FLASHBACK)

"_Detective Mars, my office now!" Captain Lawrence yells out as I pass by my desk._

"_Captain," I say as I enter his office._

"_Close the door and have a seat," he says motioning with his hands._

"_Sir," I say sitting down._

"_What are your plans, Detective," he asks as he flips through papers on his desk._

"_I don't understand!" I question back._

"_You have lied and gotten away with so many things, but it ends now. I am taking you off of the kidnapping case," he says looking up from his papers._

"_I don't understand," I say standing up._

"_Miss. Mars, you have a daughter. I didn't know that," he says as he hands me a file. I open it, not expecting to come face to face with this though._

"_Where did this come from?" I snap looking over the different photos of my daughter and me over the course of several years. I was struck to the core though when I saw a few photos of myself from high school._

"_These photos and several hundred more were found in a storage locker belonging to the owner of the apartment where you found the girl. There were also links to tie this person to several other cases you worked on," he says as he hands me a list of unsolved murder cases. My heart dropped, I turned around quickly and threw up the contents of my breakfast. _

"_This is too much to be a coincidence," I say as I look back to him. _

"_Yes, I agree. The first victim was a teenager from Neptune High School while you were there," he says looking hard at me. "I'm taking you off the case, and you are taking time off," he was still talking when I put my hand up._

"_Sir," I say when he slams the file down._

"_Ms. Mars, you do not have a choice in this matter. It is final, you will be going on leave to rest and recuperate. You came back after the incident way too soon, I should have made you take more time," he stops as if he was thinking or pondering about something._

"_I am fine," I snap as I slam my badge and gun on his desk. "I guess I don't need these anymore than do I," I say as I open his door and walk out. My partner looks over at me, but I don't have anything personal at my desk so I walk out to my car leaving the station behind._

_(End)_

I park across the street from my dad's office. I notice there isn't a lot of traffic out right now as I unbuckle my daughter and walk across the street. As we enter the hallway I feel déjà vu, but push the thoughts out of my mind. I walk into the small office to see Alicia standing in front of my dad.

"Grandpa," my daughter says as she runs from behind me to my dad.

"Hey," he says as he picks her up with a surprised look on his face.

"Dad," I say as I shut the door and walk over to them.

"Veronica, it's good to see you," Alicia says as she gives me a slight hug.

"Yeah, well I got some time off, so here I am," I say reaching for my daughter.

"So who's this darling, Keith didn't tell me about her," Alicia says nudging my dad.

"This is my daughter Lily," I say as Eli comes into the room from my dad's office.


	2. Chapter 2

Veronica Mars

Chapter 2: Revelations

"Eli, it's nice to see you," I say as I hold Lilly closer to my chest. I watch his eyes moving up and down.

"Sheriff, how are things holding up," he asks avoiding asking me any questions.

"Well things are pretty slow right now, but anything is possible now that a certain blonde has resurfaced," he says looking over at me smiling. Eli gives a snort and pats my dad on the back.

"Yeah, she's a handful that one there. I hope she doesn't go breaking any more hearts because I have no time cleaning up messes," he says snidely passing right by me and out the door.

"What the heck did he mean?" I question as I turn around to look at my dad and Alicia.

"It's not something I want to discuss right now! We will talk about it later, but right now why don't you head home with Alicia," my dad says dismissing me.

"I actually was going to head to the beach for a while," I say trying to keep my voice level, no emotion.

"I think it would be best if you went back to our house," my dad says as he kisses Alicia. "I've got to get back to the office, but I'll see you guys at home. I'll be in for dinner," he says as he walks over to me and places a kiss on Lilly's forehead. "Veronica, I'm glad your home," he says as he pulls me into a hug. This was the first hug from him in 6 years. I was so distant with him when he was with me last year, but that all seems like water under the bridge.

"Daddy," I say chocking out the word.

"We'll talk when I get home," he says softly kissing my forehead as well. I nod my head and release him. I follow Alicia to their house. It wasn't the house she was living in before I left. It was a nicer looking house and in the 09er zip code once again.

"Mom," Wallace says as she enters the house.

"Wallace, come help Veronica with her things," she says as I enter the door. My high school friend is standing mere inches from me and I watch as several different emotions flash through him.

"Superfly, it's good to see you," he says giving me a stern look.

"It's good to see you as well," I say.

"Mommy," Lilly says as she comes up the steps.

"Mommy," Wallace says taking in the little girl next to me.

"Oh, my gosh. Are you for real!" he snaps at me.

"Wallace," his mom says as I fight the tears that want to flood my eyes. I am in for a mental overload. This was such a horrible idea. I grab Lilly and exit the door going right to my car. I quickly buckle her up, and then get into my seat and leave.

Logan

"Sheriff," I say looking over at Keith as he enters his office.

"Logan, what are you doing in here," he asks surprised to see me.

"Well I thought I would come to see what is going on with the good Sheriff of Neptune," I say starkly. He shakes his head some before sitting down at his desk.

"Of course you did," he replies.

"I was wondering if you had any leads on the missing teenager from earlier this week. The press is pressuring the DA to make some form of statement, but I am trying to get them to hold off on anything until more details are known," I say as I hand him a file.

"What's this?" he asks as he opens it.

"It's missing women reports for LA County," I say looking right at him.

"There have been several women reported missing over the last 7 years all the same type," I say trying to not remember a certain blonde that would fit into this category.

"What's the type?" he asks looking through the photos.

"Small, petite, blonde early twenties," I say looking over at a picture on his desk. It's a new one from within the last year or so, because it's of him and a little girl," Keith" I say pointing to the new picture.

"That's Lilly," he says without any more words.

"I see there are several closed cases in the LA area where the bodies of the missing women have been found," he asks looking over the last few photos before dropping it on the desk.

"Logan, I need to go," he says as he walks out of the office. I head for my car, after getting in and starting it I think of returning to work, but decide to take the rest of the day off. I head to the beach to catch some waves.

"Hey, Dick you want to surf," I ask as he answers the phone.

"Sure, meet you at Dog Beach," he says as he hangs up. I smile to myself as I think of the idea of surfing.

"I get out of my car, grab my duffle bag and head to the surf shop on the edge of the parking lot.

"Hey, how was work,' Dick asks as I enter the shop going right to the back to change out of my suit.

"It was work,' I say laughing as I see Mac in the office whispering with Wallace. "What are you two doing in here?" I question.

"Oh, nothing," Wallace says quickly walking out the surf shop door.

"Is he alright," I ask as I zip up my wetsuit.

"Yeah, things are strange at his house," Mac says as she puts her ear buds in and looks back to her computer. I wasn't totally sure what Dick saw in her, but she was sure smart. She helped both of us in the stock market, and in the startup of several business deals in college. She made some serious cash during the first two years of college off of us, and several Hearst students. I was surprised though when I noticed Dick and her dating because they were an odd couple, but they seem to be doing great together.

"So do you know what's eating Mac and Wallace," I ask Dick as we hit the sand.

"Nah, I mean he came all barging in, but didn't say anything to me," Dick says as he grabs his board. I watch him as he effortlessly runs to the water jumping in.

(Flashback)

"_Veronica is gone," Wallace says as he exits her apartment. I was going to surprise her with the news about my startup company._

"_What do you mean" I ask as I pace outside. Keith opens the door for me to enter as Wallace leaves._

"_Come in Logan," Keith says as he hands me a envelope with my name on it. "She left this for you. I guess she decided not to come home after her internship," he says softly leaving me alone with my thoughts. I rip open the envelope and jerk out the letter._

'_Logan,_

_I didn't have the heart to tell you this when I left, but I do love you more than you could ever know. I just don't think I can stay in Neptune, and know that I messed things up. I hate the fact that I can't look at you without seeing Madison, but it is what it is._

_I thought going away for this internship would help me sort out my thoughts and feelings, but they haven't. I have made a mess of things, and don't know how to fix them. I would do anything to feel your love, but after the horrible thing I have done I don't deserve you or anyone else. Please know that I will be alright, but I don't want you. I don't want to hurt you anymore than I already have. You have to let me go, I know you won't be able to so I won't be back._

_Always,_

_Veronica'_

_My heart almost breaks at her words. Why couldn't she have just come back home to me if that's what she wanted. Why would she think I wouldn't want her? I pick up the closest lamp to me and throw it against the wall across from me._

"_Logan, what the hell?" Keith demands as he jerks me up. I jerk myself away from him and leave. I am sitting in my car waiting for the green light when I decide to gun it to the next light. I barely make it across the lane as another car just misses hitting me. I go to the nearest bar, and get plastered. I don't even know how I got home or where I was. I go to move my hand tugging on it hurts. I open my eyes slowly to see Keith Mars in front of me._

"_What the hell?" I snap jerking my arm again. Damn it my head hurt and so did my arm._

"_I don't know what is wrong with you. I know Veronica leaving isn't great or anything, but you need to clean up your act and show her you've grown up. One day I won't be here to help you out," he says as he uncuffs my wrist and leaves me. I spend the night in the hospital for alcohol poisoning and decide to change my life. _

_(Flashback)_

"Man what are you doing hanging out here instead of hitting the waves. Dude I thought that is why you cut out on work early," Dick says as he drops beside me. He has been my best friend for as long as I know. He has stuck by me through everything. I guess he could be called my brother, but he wouldn't mind that one bit.

I run out to the water and paddle out to catch a wave. As I turn around on my board and get ready to ride the wave in I notice a streak of blonde hair. I let the water take me back to the shore as I watch the woman with blonde hair. I can see Dick talking to her, but only see the back of her head. Dick must be getting to her because as I reach sand she turns my way, and I see a face that has haunted my life for the last 6 years.

I try to catch my breath because she hasn't changed one bit through the years. She has grown her hair out longer, but she is still the same person that walked away from me. I stand my ground keeping myself from running to her because I see something that hurts. She has a little girl; I hadn't noticed her before because Dick was blocking her. I feel my heart breaking in two as it's ripped from inside me. I had been holding out hope for someone who wasn't coming back to me.

I drop my board where it is and go back to the surf shack to get my bag. I make it to my car without turning around. I have no clue as to where I am going or what I am doing as I see a dark SUV come out of nowhere slamming into my side of my car. I feel the glass shattering in on me as the pressure of crunched metal pushes me into the car more. I am barely awake when I hear the voice I haven't heard in a long time.

"I told you, one day you'd die and today is that day," the man says as he jumps into another car and they leave me to die.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is longer because I will not be able to post again until next week, so enjoy.

Veronica

I have been laying in a hospital bed for almost an hour. After my encounter with Dick and seeing Logan run away I headed home only to see an accident. I saw my dad barking orders as the EMT's and other personal were working on the person in the car. I parked my car the moment I knew who it was, but my dad seeing me stopped me from going any closer. I didn't need to go much further because I saw his lifeless body, the glass all around him, and the metal frame of the car covering him like a blanket. I was hoping he was alive, but they called his time of death.

I couldn't stand anymore as I fell to the ground hitting my head. The reason that I had held onto life, and stayed away from Neptune was dead. I no longer had any reason to stay here or anywhere else. My head was pounding as I heard voices outside.

"So, the Mayor he pulled through," a female asks.

"Yes, the darnest thing. They said he was a goner, but as if he felt something just seconds after they called his time of death he opened his eyes and mumbled something. Sheriff Mars was busy with his daughter, but one of the EMT's says it was Ronnie," another female says as the both seem to move on.

No way, Logan the Mayor. I mean he was smart, but why didn't anyone tell me. Right you had avoided them for the past 6 years. I was stupid, and almost killed.

"Mommy," Lilly says as she touches my arm.

"Hey, baby girl," I whisper as I open my eyes. I see Wallace standing beside her.

"How are you feeling?" he asks as his eyes move toward the open door where Mac and Dick were standing.

"Just a bump," I mumble. "He died didn't he," I ask as I try to sit up. My dad moves over to me and pulls me into a hug.

"No, he's fighting for his life," he says trying to soothe me.

"Daddy, this is my entire fault," I mumble trying to find the words to say to him.

"You're damn right this is your fault," Dick yells at me moving away from the doorway and into the room. "You broke his heart and them show up here. Who the hell do you think you are?" he snaps at me as my pulse starts rising.

"I think it would be best if you leave," the nurse says as she comes into the room. "Ms. Mars we had to give you a CAT-Scan due to your previous head injuries from the explosion last year," she is still talking when I see everyone looking at me.

"You were in an explosion," Wallace asks as he eyes Mac up.

"I thought I told you all to leave," the nurse says as she turns around to look at them. I watch as they all turn, and walk out the door.

"Mr. Mars I think it would be best to keep Ms. Mars here over night," she says as she flashes her little light in my eyes.

"I feel fine," I snap pulling Lilly closer to me.

"Veronica, just stay the night. I think you could use some rest anyway. I mean a lot has gone on today," my dad says with a soft smile.

"I don't want to," I pout sticking my lips out like I did when I was younger.

"Mommy, pouting," Lilly says laughing. I smile down at her as I kiss her forehead.

"I'll stay the night, but dad I don't want anyone alone with Lilly right now," I say seriously.

"I will have Alicia with her. Veronica," he starts to say something as the door open and Clarence Weidman walks in.

"Ms. Mars, Sheriff," he says as he move aside for another person to enter. I closed my eyes and opened them to see if I was imagining the two people in front of me, but no such luck.

"Who the hell do you think you are coming into my daughters room like you own the place? Get the hell out of here!" my dad snaps as I grab onto his arm pulling him to me. I would have to tell him sooner or later.

"Dad, it's fine," I say pulling harder. He turns to look at me with pained eyes. How could I tell my dad that Jake Kane helped me out over the years keeping me safe? How do you tell the man who raised you that the man your mom left him for knew more about you than he did?

"I heard about Mr. Echoll's car accident and then learned that Veronica had been brought in as well. I was just checking on her," Jake says as he moves closer to me.

"I'm fine," I mumble as I watch the two of them staring each other down.

"Veronica, explain," my dad finally says breaking the silence. I look from him to Clarence. I motion for him to take Lilly as hard as that was for me, she needed to be out of the room. "Alicia, my wife is down in the waiting room," he says as Lilly goes for Clarence.

"Dad, if I am to tell you the detail you have to promise me not to interrupt me until I am done, or I can't tell you," I say looking right at him as Jake sits down beside me.

"Fine, but I don't like this mess one bit," he says.

"I had stolen the hard drive from Jake Kane. I had some help cracking it, then when things seemed to be going South I went to return it to Jake. He had already set into motion you being axed once again, but I couldn't take that away from you. That was my fault and I didn't think you should suffer for my mistake. SO I made a deal with Jake," I was thinking over how to tell him the next part when he jumped up.

"Veronica, what were you thinking? Things would have worked out fine," he was talking as Jake interrupted him.

"It wasn't fine at all. Keith the information Veronica had gained opened up a huge Pandora's Box that would have destroyed you and this town. There were secrets that she had no right to," Jake says as I put my hand up for him to stop.

"I didn't know what I had gotten myself into, it wasn't until this guy who made a sex tape of me approached me did I see that I was in deep. Logan beat up Piz thinking he released it, and then when he was apologizing the same guy came over getting smart with me. Logan being the self righteous Veronica lover beat the guy down. He was threatened by him," I stop to catch my breath. "I am at the internship when the FBI starts questioning me all over again about Duncan and his daughter. I get back to my room the night before I come home to find it thrashed. There is a note telling me that things were going to get worse for me if I came back home. The people I cared and loved would be ruined and hurt because of me. So I decided to leave. I had learned you had won the re-election and went to see Jake about the FBI questioning. I thought he was behind the whole thing, but he was worried about me when I told him everything." I stop again to see if my dad was still following me. I noticed Clarence had re-entered the room as well.

"Veronica, I have told you hundreds of times to come to me with your problems. Why couldn't you do that?" he asks pleading with me.

"I couldn't let you get hurt. It was my problem," I snap as I am getting worked up again.

"Your problem, you were 19 years on Veronica. You should have been doing what normal 19 year old do not hide out in fear or become single parents. Do you have any idea the mess you left when you did? You left a heartbroken man who loved you way too much, two best friends who didn't understand why you wouldn't answer e-mails or pick up the damn phone," he has more to say but is interrupted by Jake.

"Keith, she knew it was going to be tough," he was still talking when my dad reaches for him.

"This is your fault Kane," he yells as the nurse re-enters the room.

"I think it's best if everyone leaves right now before I call security," she snaps.

"No one is leaving until I finish," I state loudly as I see everyone look at me. "I am tired of running. I am tired of having to stay away. I have lost everything and now I want to get my life back," I yell as I let the tears fall freely. My dad lets go of Jake and moves back to my side. "Please leave, so I can finish," I say looking over at the nurse.

"If your heart rate picks up I will return with security no buts about it," she snaps walking out the door.

"Jake helped me get a place in LA, I knew when I left for the internship I was pregnant. I had planned on coming home to tell him, but after everything that had happened I decided he would be better off without me. I went to Jake, talked with him, and made my move. I left the notes and grabbed a few things of mine. I had my daughter a while later. Jake helped me keep her hidden by hiring a nanny of sorts. I went onto the Academy worked my way up to Detective. I thought things were going well until I started getting strange letters. I knew something was up, but didn't know what," I was interrupted by my dad.

"Did it have anything to do with the kidnapped girl, and the apartment that blew up with you in it," he snaps. I shake my head.

"No, I think that it's two very separate people. I believe the explosion was due to a stalker. The letters are from the same person who hurt Logan tonight, and ran me out of town," I say looking at the three men in the room.

"What are you saying Veronica?" Jake questions me as he looks over to my dad.

"Gory Sorokin is behind the letters and the accident with Logan tonight. I'm sure of that, but I am not clear on the missing women or the apartment explosion. I was placed on leave because the Captain thought I was too close to the case. I didn't even know everything there was about it, but he seems to think that the person doing the crimes is after me," I say looking over to my dad.

"And if Logan hadn't been hurt were you planning on disclosing that information," he asks very loudly. I want to say 'yes', but I knew I wouldn't have.

"No," I say as calmly as I could.

"Veronica, are you serious? Have you thought about anyone, but yourself during this time?" he questions me. I give him a gard look.

"I have been thinking of everyone else. I left to keep everyone I loved safe, but no trouble has to follow me. Do you think I liked leaving? Do you even know what it was like knowing that Lilly was the only thing I had left," I scream. "Get out!" I say as loud as I could. The nurse takes the moment to open the door with two security officers standing right behind her.

"Veronica," Jake says. I shake my head.

"Bring me my daughter, I don't want her with you anymore," I say as Clarence moves away from the men.

"Veronica," my dad says pleading with me.

"Sheriff, I think it would be best if you leave," the nurse says as she moves into the room. I watch as he leaves disappointed in me yet again.

"How is Mr. Echoll's?" I ask waiting for Lilly to be brought back.

"He is out of surgery," she says softly as Clarence brings in a sleeping Lilly. He places her on the bed beside me.

"Ms. Mars," he says as he walks toward the door.

"I think you should give my dad all the stuff now because you and I both know he'll do whatever it takes to get it anyway," I say as he opens the door.

"I'll try to get the files from LA as well," he says as he closes the door.

Logan

My whole body feels like it's on fire. I can feel the damn sharpness of the freaking needle. Oh, happy thoughts! Did I really see Veronica on the beach with a little girl? No, I must have been dreaming, yeah that's what I was doing. Shit, it was her, damn it. Why am I in so much pain? Think, think Logan, I was in my car. Yes, then I was hit. Right, the voice; I knew that voice, but from where.

"Logan, I am sure you know by now Veronica is back," Keith is saying as I hear the door open.

"Mr. Mars, I hear you have already been kicked out of your daughter's room, do I need to call security," a woman asks. Shit, he was kicked out of his daughter's room; I would have loved to be a fly on that wall.

"I think you'll find that I am the health trustee for Mr. Echoll's so I can be here," he says back to her.

"Please keep this one from raising his heart rate," she says a little softer.

"Ms. Johns, if you knew my daughter you would know she has a way of finding herself in sticky situations. I only want what's best for her," he says softly.

"Well, her head seems to have little damage, but she sure took a bad blow last year," she says sincerely. What the hell is she talking about?

"Yeah, she was hurt pretty badly. I don't fully know the details, but it was a touchy situation," he says.

"She is resting right now with her daughter. She asked about Mr. Echoll's here," she says. Well at least she had the curtosy of asking about me.

"They dated on and off during high school and some college," Keith says as I expect he is exhausted from his tone.

"Maybe you should head home; I can have the night staff call you if there are any changes. I guess since Ms. Mars's health trustee is Mr. Echoll's I'll call you instead since he is unable to make any choices," she says softly.

"Yeah," he mumbles. I guess he followed her out because it gets quiet. Veronica has a daughter. There is a mini Veronica. Wow, I just never thought she'd do something like that. Wait, I haven't heard anything about a husband. Plus I am her trustee, why would she do that since we haven't had any contact in 6 years. There has been 6 years of radio silence on her end. What am I missing?

All I think about is her, the way she smells, her lips, eyes and even her voice. I think I am hallucinating now because I can faintly smell her perfume as if it was sitting right beside me. She always wore 'Promises', god I loved her smell.

"Hey," I hear her voice; it's almost a whisper on my right side. "I know this isn't fair to you; especially since you will probably have no clue to this whole conversation, but I love you. I have wanted to tell you that for the last 6 years, but never felt I had the right to those words since I left. I am so sorry for the pain I have caused you," she says as her voice breaks. I know she is crying.

I want to tell her things as well, but I can't form the words or speak them aloud. I want to say so many things to her, but I feel like they will fall on deaf ears because she didn't listen all those years ago. Why would I think she would listen to them now?

"I don't want you to think I left because of you, because I didn't not in the way you think. I spent that summer thinking about what I had done to you with the whole Madison thing. It wasn't fair of me because looking back I left you for Duncan. I was planning on telling you that when I came home, but," she trials off as if she was thinking of what to say next. "I am going to be honest with you; I left the day after I came home because I received some threatening letters. Someone was in a way blackmailing me with everyone I loved. I couldn't let you guys get hurt because of something I did," she stops talking again, but I hear the scrap of the chair, and a soft childlike voice.

"Momma," it says.

"Shh, Lilly come here," she whispers as I feel a small hand on mine. Then I feel a little bit more weight next to me. The body is that of a small child. I want to touch her, but my arms won't obey my thoughts. The little girl smells like her mom so much.

"Logan, this is Lilly Violet. I want to tell you all about her, but it wouldn't be fair to do it this way. She has waited 6 years to meet you, but I kept her from you out of fear. I was afraid you would get hurt if I came home; and you did. You are in this trauma unit because I came home. I brought my problem right to you," she is sobbing now.

"Shh!" I whisper softly gasping as I say the one word I could muster trying to calm her down.

"Oh my God, Logan," she grabs onto me sending a sharp pain in my arm, but I'll take it any day to have her right here with me.


	4. Chapter 4

Veronica Mars

Chapter 4: Revelations

**Logan**

I was in so much pain as I opened my eyes. I could barely see the room, but from what I could see I was in the hospital. It reminded me of the last time I was in one; it had happened shortly after Veronica had left for good. I was at the grocery store picking up some things when I was attacked from behind. I thought it was Weevil and his guys until I saw the guy I had beaten up for releasing the video of Piz and Veronica. Gory Sorokin just laughed and taunted me with "where is that bitch at now, do you know whose bed she was in last," I was so beyond livid. I just let them beat me because the sooner they got it over with the sooner I'd feel nothing. Keith was with me the whole time I was recovering. I never told him the truth. He thought I got wasted and in a fist fight.

I had thought it was easier than telling him about the whole sex tape. I didn't want him to have to worry about anything more at the moment. He was stressed enough with everything going down with Veronica and all. I let him take care of me. I tried to defend her every time Wallace, Dick and Mac complained that she was the reason for my mess, but they wouldn't relent on it. I allowed myself to believe they were right; I was in this mess because of a heart break.

I don't know why he was back because I thought the attack had been payback for his little beat down for tapping Veronica. Damn it, I am here because of her, shit! I want to see how bad it is, but I am stopped by a blonde head resting ever so lightly on my chest. I could tell whose head it was a mile away, but the tiny head on the opposite side of the bed is new. I watch quietly with slanted eyes the little girl whose fingers were wrapped around her mother's hand which was contently across my stomach.

"Julie, I found them," an older lady says as she goes to lift the girl from my side.

"Don't touch her!" an angry voice demands from the door. I have to squint to see the familiar man I have tried to ignore for so long. He no longer looked like the father figure I looked up to as a young man. He had grown a beard, his hair was grayer and he had lost some weight. He looked like hell.

"Mr. Kane," the woman says softly letting her arms fall to her side.

"Let them be," he says as he steps back out of the room. It surprised me that he was even here to begin with.

"Water," I mumble as my throat starts to hurt.

"Here," I see the shell of a man I use to look up to standing in front of me. I sip on the water slowly hoping to keep it down. "I'll leave you alone in just a moment. I want to tell you that I am sorry this happened to you. I thought I had taken care of this situation after the beating he gave you, but.." he trails off noticing Veronica beginning to stir. How in the hell did he know that? I didn't even tell Dick.

"Nurse," he calls out as I watch him stroke her hair pushing it out of her face.

"Mr. Kane," she snaps at him not friendly at all.

"I think Ms. Mars might be waking up, but it would probably be wiser to keep her out for a little longer. She tends to over extend herself very quickly. I know Mr. Echoll's is her trustee, but you can see in her files that I pay her bills," he says giving the nurse a curt nod.

"No," I snap quickly. They turn to look at me.

"It's not going to hurt her, she needs rest. She has had a very traumatic year," he says looking longingly at her.

"Haven't we all?" I half mumble trying to flex my hand to stay still.

"Yes, of course," he says softly almost a whisper.

"What happened?" I gasp out as I feel my throat tighten, and then nothing else. My mind goes blank as I drift off to sleep once again letting go of the pain I was in. I would face the end of the world tomorrow; I would try to brace myself for her leaving me again. Right now I would have her though.

*0*0*0*

"What the hell is going on here?" I hear Keith demanding unable to open my eyes.

"Mr. Kane wouldn't let us mover her, and then after he left anytime someone tried to move her Mr. Echoll's seemed to get an erratic heartbeat. We collectively decided to leave them be," the nurse from the night before says fumbling over her words.

"I asked to be updated. Don't you think this was an update?" he questions. I am smirking on the inside because the rest of my body is killing me. I can still feel Veronica's presence, but the kid is gone. I feel strangely off as I feel my heart beginning to beat faster.

"Dr. Mason," the nurse calls out.

"Ugh! Mr. Mars, you know your daughter being in her own bed would help us do our job," he snaps a little. I agree, but would hate to lose the contact right now. "Did anything change beside her?" he questions probably pointing to Veronica.

"Lilly isn't here," another voice says.

"Lilly?" Dr. Mason questions.

"Yes, their daughter," Keith whispers probably not knowing that Veronica told me that already.

"She left just moments before I walked in," I hear Keith say.

"Weidman, get Lilly," Jake says. I guess he isn't far away either. "Keith," he says.

"Jake, I heard you had my daughter doped," he snaps harshly.

"Keith we both know she needs this," he says softly almost torn.

"Yes, but this isn't going to help either of them. Veronica is going to break his heart. You were there for her, but I had to pick Logan up. My daughter chose you," he snaps. I haven't heard Keith this worked up since last year when he disappeared for several months, and then returned very angry.

"Mr. Kane, here she is," the man says as I can hear the sharp intake of Keith's breath, and the new smell of lilacs mixed in with Veronica's perfume.

"Here you are," Keith says as I assume he takes her. I can vaguely hear the heart monitor beating rapidly. "Lilly, would you stay here at the foot of the bed while the adults talk," he says as I feel myself begin to relax a little.

"This isn't good," the Dr. says as I laugh inside knowing all too well that his words meant more to me than anyone else in the room. "I will get a bigger room set up because I have a feeling this room isn't going to be big enough for Mr. Echoll's," I hear the man say chuckling as his shoe sound drift out of the room.

"Seriously, you had her drugged. I would expect that sort of this from Celeste, but not you," Keith rants some more.

"I was only trying to get her settled. I know you're her dad Keith. There was a time when Lianne told me she might be mine, and well Celeste told Duncan that. Even after knowing that, I kept my space because you had raised her. That day when I realized you'd risk your job as Sheriff for her, made me furious and in a way proud. You had a relationship with Veronica that I never had with Lilly or Duncan. So when she came to me before she left, I took the chance to help her. I would do it all over again. I did it because she helped Duncan, she was Lilly's best friend," I hear Jake breathing heavy as he stops talking.

"Why didn't you just send her my way? I could have protected her," Keith mumbles as I hear someone sit down.

"I wanted to, but when she told us about everything that had happened; I knew she had gone beyond your help. The Hard Drive she stole from me had year's worth of technology on it, but it had something much more valuable than that," he pauses as if trying not to say what he needs to.

"I remember that," Keith says as I feel movement on the bed. Veronica seems to be moving as if she was waking up. Damn it, they needed to finish this conversation fast because I know she is going to nip it if she wakes up.

*****XOXOXOXO******

**Veronica**

I had heard vaguely some of the things being said, but for the first time in forever I was comfortable. I was finally able to feel safe. I knew my dad needed to know everything, but I couldn't tell him. I wouldn't be able to sit through a conversation like that, if I was the one needing to talk.

"I remember that," I heard my dad say as I got a small cramp in my leg, without thinking I start to stretch it out. I hear the voices go quiet. Crap did they know I was awake! I quickly froze up. I heard Lilly laughing and relaxed into Logan's side, moving my head just a tad bit to rest on his chest more. I could feel his arm squeeze me slightly.

"There was information on it about a secret organization by the wealthiest men in the country. People have been killed for leaking the information, and Veronica with some help was able to crack the data code, and get into it within 24 hours. It was not good news. Hearst had just gotten through their round of new recruits when she nabbed it. Weidman had kept track of Veronica's little excursions, but not as well as he should have. There was a tape made of her, and well Logan gave the man a beat down for it," Jake says with a soft chuckle.

"That's our mighty Mayor beating down the Bastards that hurt our women, great slogan," my dad says a little bit ruder than it probably should have been said.

"Keith, I have not been the best person I could have been, but the moment I saw the fear in your daughter's eyes I knew I couldn't turn her away," Jake says heartbroken. He wasn't the best person no; he had an affair with my mother, yes. He allowed bad things to happen to people, but he had changed when Lilly died. He was trying to do better, but I had helped hurt him when Duncan took off. I knew he would help me, that was why I went to him.

"Well I guess for you to help her it must have been dire, we all know the mighty Jake Kane can't be bothered with those lower than him," my dad sneers. I couldn't believe him right now; sometimes he allows pride to rule him.

"Dad," I snap more loudly than I wanted to as I begin to sit up. I could feel Logan's arm wanting to hold me tight, but I wiggled out of his grasp and placed his arm on his chest.

"Ronnie," he whispers as he opens his eyes.

"Shh!" I say softly placing a small kiss to his check before moving to get up. "I am just getting up people," I snap as the other three men begin to stand, Weidman going right for the door.

"Ms. Mars," he says looking from me to the other two men.

"Really, you guys continue your conversation. I mean it was getting to the good stuff before I decided to wake up," I say making air quotes on 'wake up'.

"Jake, we can continue later," my dad says as he moves to get up.

"Seriously, It was getting really interesting," I say as I move toward Lilly. I can sense Logan's eyes following me.

"Would you like anything?" my dad asks as I pick her up.

"No, I think we are going to head out for a little while," I say as I pick up my bag that I saw was moved here from the other room.

"Ronnie," Logan barely gasps out. I turn slowly around to see him pulling at the wires and things around him. He was going to hurt himself if he didn't lay still.

"Logan, stop," I say softly placing Lilly back on the bed. I move my hands to cover his. "I will be back; I promise you I am not leaving. I want to get cleaned, and some food," I say as he shakes his head.

"Please," he rasps out. I feel horrible for needing this time to freshen up as I know he's stuck here. If he hadn't seen me he wouldn't have left in a hurry.

"Shh! Logan I am here, I am right here," I say as I reign his hands back to his chest. "I am just going to step out. You probably need to see your girlfriend or wife. I have taken up," his hand placed over my mouth stops me.

"There is no one, just Dick," he mutters looking over to Lilly. "Maybe her," he says with a little bitterness to it.

"Yeah, you heard me than," I say looking over to our daughter.

"Every bit of it, what the hell were you thinking about," he snaps as the other men in the room take notice of the brewing war that might take place.

"I was trying to keep everyone I loved safe," I say as softly as I could.

"You say that, but you left. The great Veronica Mars; she is the life giver and the heart breaker. I thought I knew you, but I guess I didn't. Just go," he snaps as he turns his head. When I turn around I see my dad and Jake, but Weidman was gone. I reach for Lilly, but decide I needed to show him I'd be back.

"Lilly, will you stay here with Grandpa and…" I pause not sure of what to say.

"Daddy, mommy it's daddy," she says giggling. Of course the two men try to brush off her statement, but I knew it went right to Logan.

"Yes, please stay with Daddy," I say mumbling a little as I am barely keeping in the tears.

"Okay," she says as I place a kiss to her forehead and walk out of the room. I don't know where I want to go, but see an unlikely person at the front desk. This isn't what I needed right now!


	5. Chapter 5

Veronica Mars:

Chapter 5: Judgments

**Veronica**

"Break any hearts lately," the man snaps toward me. I move to walk past him.

"No, Dick I haven't," I say as I feel his hand grab my arm.

"Ronnie, seriously what the hell," he says as I jerk my arm out of his grasp and punch him in the arm.

"You invaded my space," I say walking away again.

"Your dad called me to pick you up," he says following after me.

"My dad called you Dick, sure and Mac is in love with you," I say as I turn around to face him. His eyes show no emotion.

"Whatever," he says as he motions for me to follow him. I get into his Audi SUV. I have no clue what I want to do, but I need some time. I notice right away that we weren't headed toward my dad's place.

"Where are we going?" I ask as he slows down to a simple beach style house off the coast that's got a security gate around it. It would be something I would actually like. I notice my Hybrid in the driveway.

"This is Logan's place he says as he punches in a code, and the gate opens. Logan would need something like this. I guess I just thought he was still living at the Grand.

"Why are we here?" I ask noticing Mac standing by my Hybrid.

"Security," he mumbles as I get out.

"Veronica," Mac says as she pulls me into a hug. She was absolutely glowing, and pregnant. Mac was going to have a little baby.

"Mac, you're pregnant," I say as I take a deep breath.

"Yeah, our second," she says looking over to Dick.

"No, freaking way," I say as I try to wrap my mind around the thought of my best friend and Dick co-creating. That was something I didn't want to think about.

"A lot has changed," she says ushering me inside the house. I look around and notice it isn't warm and inviting. It was very open and spacious, but very little personality. I couldn't see anything that would suggest Logan living here.

"He stays at your dad's a lot," Mac says as if she could tell what I was thinking. I just nodded.

"I am sorry about just leaving," I say breaking down the moment I see all the photos on the fireplace mantle. They were of me and Logan. Logan even had bought some of my photos that I had taken early on in my career. I would take photos and sell them to keep myself busy. I was always good with a camera, so I thought of it as a hobby. I enjoyed taking photos of Lilly, the beach or even different skylines around LA. It was relaxing for me.

"We know that, but really you can't do that again," Mac says nudging Dick. I just realized they were being very calm about the whole situation. I was thinking as to what they might know, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Mac, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't," I cry out as I turn to see the one picture I had sold that was never meant to sell. He had it. He had her all this time, and never even realized what he had. It was a photo of her and I after her third birthday. I set up the tripod, and took the photo as I were sliding down the slide. That was one of the best days of my life. It was before I got involved with the Serial Kidnapper.

I collapse to the ground with the weight of knowing everything around me was falling apart. The life I had been running from was the life that was holding me back. I had caused all the problems myself. Every decision I made out of fear was because I wouldn't trust the people around me.

I wasn't able to pretend like the past hasn't hurt me because it has. I was just as broken as the next person, but I hid it very well. Seeing my dad last year broke my soul when he left me. Then being here was killing me. I feel like I am free failing as pain shoots through my hands and arm.

"Logan, she's fine. No she passed out after looking at the strange photo you have of her and a child. Yes, I told you that it was strange. Oh get over it," Dick says as I start to sit up. "Gotta go, Ronnie is getting ready to bolt," he says as he hangs up.

"I'm not leaving," I snap getting up from the bed. "What the hell," I say as I notice I was cleaned and changed.

"Mac," he says looking to her.

"Your dad called to say you wanted to freshen up. I called Alicia who came over, and helped me clean you up," she says looking down.

"I could have done it," I say as I lift my right hand to itch my head when I feel pain in it.

"You fell into the glass table," Dick says handing me a glass of water and two pills.

"We read your file," Mac says guilty.

"I kind of figured that when you guys were so calm about all of this," I say smile for the first time in the last 24 hours. "Is Lilly still with Logan," I ask getting up.

"About that Logan asked, "How do you get her to stop talking?" Dick says.

"She's very talkative. It has more to do with who he is rather than anything else. I was open with her about her dad and my family. I didn't lie to her," I say honestly.

"Then why haven't we seen her," Dick snaps. I could sense his hurt. Sure I wanted to introduce Lilly to all of them, but I had left after all. I mean other than the occasional phone call I hadn't seen my dad much over the last 6 years either. I had really cut everyone out.

"I knew it wasn't safe," I say.

"You do know Logan would have built a fortress for you," he says dryly. I can see a faint red dot on the wall across from me near Dick's head.

"Get down!" I yell as I push Dick down, and hear the firing of a gun the bullet goes right by where we were just at.

"Mac," Dick says as she looks over to me.

"Ronnie," she yells out as I run jump out the broken window running after the person who just fired the shot. They notice me as they turn around and fire another shot. I move to the left as it went by. I am just about to tackle the person when someone jumps from behind a dune.

"Ms. Mars," Weidman says looking up at me.

"I almost had him," I snap out of breath.

"I know," he says with a smile. I move toward him to take off the mask on the man now pinned to the ground. It was none other than our old friend Gory Sorokin.

"Hello Veronica Mars, miss me," he sneers at me comically. I punch him in the face with all the pent up anger, and hatred I had been holding in for the last 6 years. I let him have it all, until I felt two arms wrap around me pulling me away.

"Ronnie, he's not worth it," Dick says softly pulling me to him. "You're better than this," he says as he begins to lead me away from the laughter and taunting of Sorokin.

"You and that boyfriend of yours are dead either way. It doesn't' matter who you know. I am not the only one after you two," he yells after us. I follow Dick up the sand path leading back to the house. Why couldn't my life be less action?

"Don't worry Ronnie, you have people who care for you," Dick says as he pulls me to his side. This was a different side to Dick I wasn't use to.

"Even if they start getting hurt because of me," I whisper tugging on his shirt only wanting to be one place right now, but scared to go. He did ask me to leave didn't he?

"Yes, look," he says turning me to face him. "I don't agree with how you left, but I do understand how you thought it was to keep us safe. Ronnie we would have all looked out for each other. We all came together as friends because of you, and well it has been lonely around here without your trouble making," he says smiling. I guess that was Dick's way of telling me things would be alright, but I just couldn't let anything happen to them.

*****XOXOXO*****

**Serial Person**

I hated that I had taken too long to get back into the old rhythm of life, but it was a close call last year. I couldn't believe she had gotten so close to finding out whole I was before I could really start the game. I was barely watching the TV in the bar, when I hear her name. I turned to look at the screen; there she was standing in all her perfection. I had fallen hard for her the day she came barging into my life.

It took every ounce of my energy to keep from going after her when she was dragged from me. I could have killed that bastard. He wasn't good enough for her, no one was. She needed a man, and I was that man. She would learn that soon enough. I had been tracking her over the years. I have murdered 7 women and 1 child, kidnapped more than 20 people all of which looked just like her.

God, I could still smell her perfume she was wearing that day she came into my life. She was of course working on a case, but hey meeting her has been the best thing for me. It gave me something to work for other than what I had been doing. Watching her right now hugging that man burned my need for her more than ever.

****XOXOXOXO****

**Logan**

The nurses have all come in swooning over me in one way or another. Jake Kane left shortly after Veronica left. Keith has been staring nonstop at me which was giving me the willies. I wished he'd either talk to me or look somewhere else.

"How old are you?" I ask as I sip on some juice deciding to get to know this child.

"I'm almost 6," she says pulling the straw of my juice to her mouth. I wanted to object, but it was the same thing that Veronica use to do. I hated that. I pulled the cup back toward me. "I wasn't done yet," she pouts.

"Yep, she's Veronica's alright," Keith says with a chuckle.

"How are you doing man?" Wallace asks as he enters the room.

"Well," I grimace as Lilly pokes my sore ribs with her hand. I gently take them in my hands.

"I see you have met the mini Veronica" he says pointing at Lilly.

"I just can't get over her keeping Lilly from me," I say pushing her hair out of her eyes as she lies down next to me taking the remote in her hand.

"Mac, gathered all the information she could last night about the cases Veronica was involved in and some things she's been involved in over the past 6 years. Man she kicked butt," Wallace says with a smirk.

"I guess that should cover up all her lies," I say a little harsher than I meant.

"Logan, it was bad when she left, Dude. She left the FBI training after a demolished room incident only to come home to her…" he pauses as he looks toward Lilly.

"She's out cold," Keith say as he holds her hand and it drops back to the bed.

"She came home to find her room trashed. The Kanes took care of cleaning everything up before Keith got home. She left shortly after that. She did some moonlighting as a photographer for about a year before she worked her way up to a Detective. Man her file is impressive," Wallace says smiling. I can't help but feel proud of her making it.

"I gathered she would do well in whatever field she put her mind to," I say with a smile that kind of hurts. My side is starting to ping so I press the morphine drip to release the good medicine. I wait a moment as I relax a small bit.

"The LA task force were handed the Serial Kidnapper/Murder cases. Mac was only able to find some of them. They have just recently connected them to a Neptune Cold Case from back when we were in High School," Wallace says as he passes a manila package to Keith from his tote.

"Logan, some of the names are from the file you gave me yesterday. This guy or lady has a pattern of petite blonde women," he says looking at the now wide awake Lilly.

"I'll take her to get some lunch," Wallace says as he moves toward Lilly.

"Daddy," she says pulling more into my side sending pain into my ribs.

"Wallace, I'll take her," Keith says as he notices her scared face.

"Veronica got really involved into the cases 2 years ago when she noticed there was a pattern to them. He would kidnap the women, but only kill every other one. They all fit the same pattern until Monica Jinks. She was only 12 years old, and snatched from a park near her home," Wallace began again after Keith left with Lilly.

"I wonder what changed," I asked. Wallace shook his head. "Wallace," I ask. He looked away from me as he hands a photo to me. It was a photo I know very well. I had even purchased the likeness of it. I knew it was Veronica, but I never thought the girl was her. I had thought it was just for art. Then he handed me a similar photo but more recent. Lilly's face had been circled, and 'Detective, it's time to lose something more important. Children are much more fun to torture.' I was seeing red as I looked the photo over once again.

"These photos haven't been seen by Veronica. The police found them in the attic of the house that exploded with Veronica and Monica in it. The report said that Monica was already dead before Veronica had found her. Veronica hadn't waited for backup, and entered the house on her own. They are unsure how things went down once she was inside. The perp got away and rigged for the place to explode with her in it," he trailed off letting me digest what I had heard.

I knew Veronica was a one man team, but she willingly put her life at risk. I knew deep down I shouldn't be mad, but Lilly could have lost her mom. I could have lost Veronica. She had to know the girl was dead, shouldn't she have thought about that as a possibility. Veronica was hurting just like me, but could I help her piece back together her life without the thought of her ripping my life apart again.

"Daddy," a voice calls out to me as I open my eyes.

"Why do you call me daddy?" I ask her wanting to know what she really knew about me. I really wanted to know how Veronica could tell her about me, but keep her away from me at the same time. She looks at me puzzled.

"Mommy told me you were my daddy. She said she loved you so much that she had to walk away. She said she had planned to come home and tell you about me, but things didn't go the way she planned," she says placing her hands on my chest to look up at me. She went to sit on my lap. I wanted to protest because her small weight was already hurting me, but decided to endure it for her sake. "She said she left to keep me and you safe." She whispers softly laying her head on my chest. I wrap my arms around her.

"I love you," I say kissing her hair.

"Of course you do, I'm Lilly," she says almost like the actual namesake Lilly Kane would. I had to chuckle at knowing things might not be so bad off. I flip the TV on to catch some news when I see my house on the screen.

"Veronica," I whisper as I see the man who put me here to begin with being put into a police cruiser. Veronica and Dick are off to the side next to Clarence Weidman. I need to make things better for her. I just can't lose her again. I would move my whole life just to be with her. But more importantly I needed to know if there was still a chance of her loving me, was there a spot for me in her life still. Or was that door closed all those years ago!


	6. Chapter 6

Veronica Mars

Chapter 6: Heartfelt

**Keith**

I had just left the hospital headed for home when I got the call no father ever wants to get. I had thought her being home would ease the dread I felt over the last year, but no trouble found her again. I turn the lights on and head for Logan's. I get there in record time. I watch as my Deputies are gathering up evidence, the news is filming the whole scene.

"Mike, get them out of here," I yell toward the nearest Deputy motioning toward the camera crew. I move toward them as I search the faces for her. I see her standing near the edge of the beach with Dick holding her close. God, I felt better seeing her safe.

"Mac," I say as I walk closer to them. Veronica turns around, and lunges at me crying.

"Daddy," she cries and it breaks me. I can't believe how callous I had been earlier. Sure, I was upset, but she was my little girl. I would do anything for her.

"It's alright," I say trying to soothe her.

"Sheriff, we have the perp in custody what would you like us to do with him," Mike asks me as I turn to walk away.

"Call Leo and have him handle the case. I can't," I say leading Veronica back to my car. I open her door and watch her get in. She seems so lifeless and fragile. I see the same girl I left behind last year, she was broken.

"Can I ask you a question?" she mumbles looking down at her lap.

"Is it about Logan," I counter. I look toward her and barely notice her head nod. "Logan was hurt real bad shortly after you left. We all thought at the time he was drowning his sorrows about you. Logan though defended you adamantly about it not being about that, but sweetie we had already made our decisions. Wallace, Mac, Dick and I took care of Logan for almost 3 months after he was beaten. We all grew close. He was the son I never had. He decided he was going to get his life on track, and make something of himself in case you came home. He went to school, focused on it, graduated top of his class. He spent a year with Habitat for Humanity going to different places building homes. When he came back he ran for office and won," I say summarizing 6 years worth of data.

"He has a life now," she mumbles softly.

"Yes, he does, but he doesn't have any special person. Veronica he spent most of his life feeling unloved. You made his life worthwhile. He told me he did all he could to become a better person to show you he was more than that selfish person you left. He is probably more on par than most young men his age," I say smiling over at her.

"I missed him every day. I missed you. I missed you so much daddy," she says wrapping her arms around me as I pulled to a stop outside of the hospital. "Why are we here?" she asks softly.

"Well I plan to take my granddaughter home, and this cut in your arm needs to be checked out," I say as I grab her hand helping her out of the car. "How did you hurt yourself this time?" I question not really sure I wanted to know the answer.

"I fell into Logan's coffee table. Who knew glass would cut?" she says with a small smile. As we come out of the elevator on Logan's floor I see Jake hovering outside Logan's door.

"I am sorry Veronica. I had Weidman trailing him, but lost him," Jake is still talking when I put my hand out.

"Jake, it's over with," I say as he shakes my hand. "Thank you for looking out for my daughter," I say holding tightly to Veronica.

"I think I felt like I owed you that after you did what you did for Lilly. I know at the time you thought I did it, but my kids meant everything. When we found Lilly, Duncan had her in his arms. We thought he had done it, but never would have thought a friend of ours would have. We have all made mistakes, and that was the biggest one for me. It was the least I could do to help Veronica, I'll continue to do so as long as she needs it," he says stepping back.

"I would think no less of you if you did," I say looking over at Veronica who seems to be off in her own world right now. "Come on let's get you arm looked at," I say moving her toward the nurses' station. She needed 6 stitches to close the wound. Thankfully she got it looked at because there were a few slivers of glass in it. She said she jumps out the window to run after the guy. I don't say a word.

*****XOXOXOXO*****

**Veronica**

I am so exhausted right now. I have had a long day with so much drama. Ugh! I just had 6 stitches to close a cut I got from being dumb, and going through a broken window. I might keep that from Logan, he's probably already stressing out for the both of us. I follow my dad into his room after Jake Kane and his talk.

"Momma," Lilly whispers as I move closer to her. She sits up reaching her arms out for me. The room was much bigger than the one from this morning. "You came back," she says smiling.

"I said I would," I say kissing her forehead as I held her to myself.

"I spend the day with daddy," she yawns. She was tired.

"Yes you did, did you learn anything," I ask touching her nose with my finger.

"He doesn't like sharing his juice," she says with a pout. I have to laugh at that.

"No, he doesn't," I smile.

"I'm going to take her home, and I'll bring her back in the morning as I head to work," my dad says as I give her a quick kiss and a hug. I watch as they head out.

"Logan just fell asleep," Wallace says as he gives me a hug, leaving me alone with Logan. I walk over to the side of his bed and sit down. I smile as I look at him. I lay my head down on his arm. Tomorrow we need to talk about everything, but for now I'll wait for him. I will let him decide where we stand.

*****XOXOXO*****

"Keith, I am serious," I hear Logan saying to my dad.

"Logan, I thought you were going to work things out," he says as I feel awkward listening to their conversation. I open my eyes unsure of what was going on.

"No, there is no way I am allowing her in my life. She has kept my daughter from me for 6 years. I want nothing to do with her at all," he says not evening looking at me.

"Logan, please don't do this," I say sobbing as I feel something cold and hard around my wrists.

"Don't do this! Are you serious? This is your fault Veronica, you and your lies have led to this" he snaps at me.

"Veronica, please don't make a scene," Deputy Leo says as he helps me stand up.

"What? Logan, please don't do this," I am pleading and sobbing as I am led away. I look back to see my dad, Logan and my daughter just watching. "Logan," I scream heartbroken that he would have me arrested. I am utterly devastated.


	7. Chapter 7

Veronica Mars

Chapter 7: Confessions

**Logan**

I am woken up by thrashing and screaming as someone close to me is either having a nightmare or I am in one. I open my eyes to see Veronica's head on my arm whimpering saying, "Please Logan, Don't do this to me." I try to wake her up, but she is deep in her dream. The night nurse must have heard her as she comes.

"Miss. Mars," she says softly and gently shaking her awake.

"No, no, where's Lilly," she yells trying to run out of the room.

"Veronica, you were dreaming," I say as I hold my hand out to her. She looks from me to the nurse.

"No, you had me arrested," she stutters looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Bobcat, you were having a nightmare," I say using her nickname. She seems to relax just a little taking a small step toward me. "We can call your dad if you'd like," I suggest assessing her demeanor.

"No," she mumbles.

"I'll leave you two alone. If you need anything please hit the call button," she says before walking out of the door.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I question as she sits down slowly.

"I am so sorry," she cries breaking down. I have never seen her so broken; she has really endured something no one person should ever have to. More importantly she willingly endured it in hopes to keep everyone else safe rather than herself. God, I loved her more now than I did all those years ago. There would be no going back if things ended badly. She owned me, yes she did. I was caught up in her spell.

"Come here," I say as she gently gets up into the bed with me. "We will talk tomorrow or later today, but right now I want to sleep. Let's sleep and talk later. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you," I say trying to assure her I have no plans to get rid of her.

"You promise," she asks softly. I nod my head into her hair. I listen carefully as she falls asleep, but I am now wide awake. Whatever she was dreaming about frightened her. I will have to reassure her of where I hope we stand. I will not lose her again.

***XOXOXO***

"Logan," I hear my name being called. "Logan," Veronica says again as she pokes me in the side this time.

"Trying to sleep," I mumble as I pull her closer to me.

"I need to use the bathroom," she says as I understand now why she was trying to wake me up. I open my eyes to see her blue ones looking embarrassed.

"Fine, I guess," I mumble half awake releasing her. She quickly gets up going to the bathroom. I watch her as she moves. I hear the flush of the toilet, and the water running shortly after. I wait for her to come back, its taking her a while. I am contemplating getting out of bed to see what's taking her so long when she comes out of the bathroom. "Did you get lost?" I joke.

"No, I was thinking of how to start this conversation," she softly says as she sits down in the chair she was in last night.

"Come on, it's too early for life or death speeches," I say as I motion for her to get back in bed with me.

"I'm not going to run," she finally whispers as her head is resting on my chest.

"Good, because I am in no condition to chase after you," I say softly kissing her head.

"I dreamed you took Lilly from me, and had Deputy Leo arrest me," she says after a long pause. I knew it was a nightmare.

"Veronica, I could never do that to you. No matter how bad or angry I would get, that is one thing I could never do. I wouldn't be able to be that cruel," I say trying to reassure her.

"You were cruel to me once upon a time," she mumbles. Yes, I was very cruel to her. I hated that I had been that way to her. In high school I lived to torment her, but I was different now. I knew better than to do something that childish. I would have to think about our daughter, and the effect of hurting her mom would have with her.

"I couldn't do that now, because it's not just you and me anymore," I whisper back to her as I close my eyes. She just shakes her head ending the conversation for the time being. I knew know more than ever her trust issues had doubled if not tripled.

"Shh! Seriously, you need to be quiet," I hear Dick saying to someone as I open my eyes. I see Dick holding Lilly upside down as she is trying to take something from him.

"Dick," Mac says as she hands him something else.

"She's worse than Ronnie," he says letting her drop on the bed.

"Um, Ouch!" I say jokingly as she bounces laughing.

"Again," she says holding her arms up.

"No more jumping or bouncing," I say getting a pout and death glare. She really is Veronica's. I mean she has so many of her mom's habits that it's weird. "Come here," I say as I pull her to me tickling her sides making her laugh even more.

"Come on, people are sleeping," Veronica says as she lifts her head up a little. "I will kill them," she says as I look over to her.

"Uh! It was Mac," Dick says quickly moving behind Mac. I wasn't sure what was going on.

"Veronica it was an accident. She was running toward our son and they collided. It wasn't even that big of a deal," Mac says as I turn Lilly to face me. She has a red goose egg in the middle of her forehead.

"Really," she says lifting up Lilly's shirt and doing a quick scan of her arms and legs.

"Paranoid," I whisper as she looks over to me.

"Momma, would keep me in a bubble if I didn't need air," Lilly says picking at the blanket I over my arm.

"I use to think the same thing about Veronica," I snicker as Dick watches us. He has a relaxed expression on his face, but I can see the underlying hidden emotion. I know he is worried that this isn't going to work for the two of us. He has seen me at the worst of my life, down in the trenches with me.

****XOXOXO****

**Veronica**

I feel safe right at this moment, but I know the dread that is seeping under everything else. I really want to believe that things are going to be fine, but things do tend to go in different directions than what we really want for them to.

"Ronnie, what are your plans for now," Dick asks looking deadpanned right at me.

"I am just going moment for moment right now, but I am not leaving anytime soon," I say as sincerely as I could. I meant that whole heartily. I wasn't going anywhere unless Logan pushed me away. I was placing the trust in him.

"Where do you plan on staying?" Mac asks softly looking toward Dick then Logan.

"I'll probably stay with my dad for now," I say as I watch Lilly standing at the edge of the bed looking toward Dick.

"Nonsense, you'll stay at my house," Logan speaks up. I want to argue with him about detailing this without talking with me, but decide not to right now. I want to show him I want this to work.

"Bro," Dick says as he catches Lilly as she jumped off the bed.

"Dick, they'll stay with me," Logan says again more forceful this time around.

"Mr. Echoll's and crew," the doctor says when he come into the room.

"We're going to head out for now. We'll see you two later," Mac says as she pulls an irritable Dick with her. I have to laugh watching the two of them interacting.

"So Doc, am I going to die," Logan says sarcastically.

"You're dying," Lilly says looking heartbroken. I get up to pick her up.

"No, he's joking," I say giving him a pointed look.

"Oh, sweetie, I am just joking with the doctor. I'm fine, just banged up a little," he says reaching out for her. She goes right to him.

"You actually are doing pretty well for a man who was in such a horrendous car accident like you were. We had to wrap your ribs because you did have 3 broken ribs, but no puncturing of your lungs. You have some pretty bad bruises, but they'll go away soon," the doctor is looking over his chart.

"I do have a pretty intense headache, but I am trying hard to ignore it," Logan says the doctor writes on the chart.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, what's your pain level," he asks Logan.

"I would say about an 8," Logan says still holding onto Lilly.

"Okay, I'll order a head scan see if there is anything wrong up there," the doctor says pointing toward his own head. I laugh as I think of all the head jokes I could use. Logan looks at me questioning what my issue was. I just shake my head. "You have some minor damage to you left side, arms and legs. It took the brunt force of the impact. You broke your left wrist; we braced it and wrapped it. Your left ankle is sprain, not broken. We decided to brace and wrap it as well because of the unknown possibility it could be something worse. Yet, all the x-rays don't show anything serious. I wouldn't have thought from the pictures of the accident scene anyone would have survived that accident, no less be awake and alert like you are right now," he pauses looking over Logan's chart a little more.

"Will there be any major issues I should be aware of?" Logan asks very seriously.

"If the Cat-Scan shows nothing to worry about you should be fine. If you're wondering about your surfing, you'll have to take some time off," the doctor says with a slight smile as he leaves.

"It could be worse," Logan finally says as Lilly is tucked under his arm wrapped up in the blanket.

"Worse," I snap as I reign in my emotion walking over to the window. I wasn't in the mood right now to talk. I needed to process everything.

****XOXOXOXOXO*******

**Logan**

I listened as the doctor explained my injuries; it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I was really lucky with what I did get. I mean sure I have seen the coverage of the accident, and taken a quick look at the crime scene photos Keith has taken. I was very lucky or fortunate to have even survived the ordeal at all. I could see her shutting down, this was too much for her to handle. The strong Veronica I once knew wasn't as strong now. She had seen things that scared a person. She would always be stronger than me, but in this moment right now I am the stronger person. My soul job will be to get her back to where she once was.

I want to hear her laugh, to see her smile. Veronica was okay about dangerous situations when she was doing them, but heaven forbid if I was unknowingly put in a dangerous situation. It made me a little upset that she still has a double standard for me about it. Although I wasn't happy about her unsettling behavior I was all for a break from all of this for a moment.

"Mr. Echoll's are you ready for a cat-scan," an older nurse says as she enters the room.

"Sure, Veronica," I say as I look toward the window where she was still standing. I needed her to help with Lilly who has fallen asleep.

"Yeah," she says looking toward me.

"Could you take Lilly? The nurse wants to take me for the cat-scan," I say as she looks from me to the nurse.

"Oh, I didn't hear her come in," she says as she picks up Lilly from the bed and moves her toward the sofa near the window. She reaches into a bag pulling out a small blanket and places it over her. I watch feeling horrible for missing so many of these moments.

"I'll bring him back after the tests," the nurse says, but I can see Veronica has already moved back to looking out the window.

The nurse takes me to a room where I lay in a machine and try to hold really still. The light that is on in the machine hurts my eyes a little, but I just pass it off. I don't know how long I have been in the machine before the nurse comes back helping me back to my chair. I feel wiped out from the whole thing. She wheels me back to my room. I notice Lilly is gone, but Veronica is lying on the couch where she was before I left.

I get help into the bed from the nurse. She helps me get myself situated before taking her leave. I turn on the news to pass time until Veronica wakes up of I have visitors. I am flipping through channels when I see a missing woman's report.

_**Breaking News** This is live from San Diego Police Station. Karla Mitchell, 25 years old, blonde hair and blue eyes was last seen entering the gym. Her car was found yesterday after some complaints that it hadn't been moved in a week. The surveillance video only shows her going in, but not coming out. Police are asking for the public's help in finding her. _

I am shell shocked when I see the photo of the missing woman. She has several similar characteristics as Veronica does. I have no doubt in my mind that she has been taken by the same serial murderer that is hunting Veronica down. I flip off the TV, and look over at Veronica, she's still sleeping.

"Keith," I say into the phone after dialing his number.

"Logan is everything alright. Alicia has Lilly, isn't Veronica there," he asks puzzled.

"Yeah, she's here. I was wondering if you had seen the news," I ask as I look toward Veronica again.

"No, why?" he questions.

"There is another missing girl, its all over the news. I swear Keith she looks like Veronica so much," I say softly as I see Veronica stringing.

"You're kidding me right," he says.

"No, but I got to go Veronica's waking up," I say as I watch her stand up moving toward me.

"Sure, I'll look into it. Just don't let her see the news for now," he says as he hangs up the phone.

"Hey," she says softly reaching for my hand. "I must have fallen asleep," she smiles as she sits down in the chair beside my bed.

"Lilly's with Alicia," I say pulling her hand toward my lips as I kiss it. She smiles.

"Logan, I'm sorry about earlier. I am just worried about everything. I guess it scares me that I could lose you," she says softly as I pull her closer to me making her climb into the bed with me.

"I am here for the long haul. I will be here for you for as long as you want me. Veronica, I lost you once. I don't plan on watching you walk out of my life again. You just need to learn to talk to me. We have never been good at talking, but this isn't about us anymore. We have Lilly, and she needs both of us," I say kissing her forehead.

"I missed you," she says as she curls up to my side. This was a perfect moment for us to start fresh. I just didn't expect the moment to be ruined, but then again things never go as planned.

"Daddy, who is she," says the little blonde girl from the foot of the bed as both Dick and Mac come barging into the room.

"We tried to keep her with us, but her mom was adamant to drop her off here instead of the house," Mac says looking worried.

"You have a daughter," Veronica says as she moves faster than I thought possible off the bed and away from me. "I have been here two days, and not once have you mentioned you had a daughter," she snaps angrily.

"I can explain," I say as I go to sit up.

"I can't, I can't do this right now. I need to go," she says as she walks out of the room.

"I'll go after her," Mac says leaving me wishing this day would just end.


	8. Chapter 8

Veronica Mars

Chapter 8: Separation

**Veronica**

How could he not tell me he had a daughter? I mean come on he has spent the last few days getting to know our daughter, but never did he even hint to the fact that he had one. Oh my god! I run to the nearest bathroom, and begin throwing up the contents of my stomach, which wasn't much to begin with. I hear the door open.

"V, are you in here," Mac says as she opens the large stall door. I am a horrible mess heaped over the toilet dry heaving. "Oh, V, come on," she continues, but I don't budge.

"He never mentioned her," I sob as my stomach is still twisting in knots.

"I thought he would have told you. I mean even I don't know the whole story, but you have been honest with him so far. I still don't see why he," she was still talking when I interrupted her.

"It's because she can only be one person's daughter, and he knows how I feel about her," I snap carefully standing up. My head feels awful. I still feel sick, but splash my face with some water and take a damp paper towel to wipe my face. The coolness feels good on my hot face.

"I don't know who her mom is; she is usually dropped off by a nanny. Today we get the call that her mom was going to drop her off here instead of our house," Mac says softly.

"How do you not know the mother?" I question.

"Logan has kept that a secret, we are the middle people is all," she says.

"Why, though?" I ask

"Logan has been good at keeping his private life private from his personal life. When you left he kind of spiraled out of control and you dad had to step in. I don't know everything, but Dick stepped up and the two of them kind of grew up. There were no more party weekends, no more sleeping with various women. Whatever happened changed Logan into the person he is today. He has been good for Neptune," Mac says as she hands me a small bottle.

"What?" I begin when I see that it is mouth wash. I open it taking a big sip and swish it around in my mouth. I hated the after taste of vomit.

"Come on, I have got to get to work and Dick needs to check in at the surf shop," she says giving me a small smile. I walk back to his room and notice that Lilly was now in the room playing quietly with Logan's other daughter. Dick was hanging outside of the room.

"Good luck," he whispers to me as he grabs Mac's hand and takes his leave. I watch them walk away trying to figure out if it was safe or not to enter the lion's den. Logan has his back to me; he is standing up near the window looking out it.

"I told you before. No you listen to me you are lucky I haven't done anything sooner with you. I will not allow you to ruin my life just because you are having a pity party," he snaps at the person on the phone. I watch as his other daughter looks up as I enter the room.

"Caitlin, I will remind you this one last time. Do not threaten me about going to the tabloids! You had your chance while he was alive and didn't. You came to me asking for help, I helped you. Stop making me regret it," Logan snaps as he slams the phone down on the sill.

"Mommy," Lilly says seeing me.

"Hey, baby," I say pulling her into a hug.

"This is daddy's other daughter," Lilly says looking from me to the other girl.

"I see her, what are you two doing," I ask as I pick up a crayon.

"Daddy says you like ponies, so were coloring ponies," Lilly says smiling toward the other girl.

"I see," I say standing up. I can see Logan has settled into the hospital bed. He looks like he's aged so much in the last hour. "Hey," I say moving the chair to sit beside him.

"Veronica," he says without any emotion.

"Logan," I start but am interrupted by my dad.

"Mr. Mars," Logan says as my dad walks in.

"I came by to pick up two of my favorite girls. Lilly why don't you and Lynn come with me, I think the grownups need to talk," he says holding out his hand.

"Keith, I should be at home later if you want to bring them by," Logan says as I watch my dad take the girls. The little blonde's name is Lynn, a nice homage to his mom.

"I'm sorry for running out, I freaked out," I blurt out trying not to get too hysterical over the whole situation.

"I didn't mention Lynn because she was supposed to be with her mom for a little while longer, but like usual plans got changed. Veronica I wasn't hiding her from you, I just didn't want to throw this at you," he says looking toward me.

"Throw it at me, well how did that work out for you," I snap glaring at him.

"Not too well," he says residing a little. Aren't we the pair, right back to square one? I guess I need to take the high road.

"How old is she?" I question trying to think of anything, but one person keeps coming back to me.

"Veronica, she's not mine," he says softly, the four words take me by surprise. I mean I did hear him agreeing with the person on the phone, but wasn't thinking clearly to process that information.

"Not yours, but she called you daddy," I say softly looking up to his eyes.

"She's my sister, but I couldn't let her be ruined by my father like I was. You remember my girlfriend Caitlin Ford," he asks. I remember she was sleeping with Weevil's cousin in high school. After you left she called my lawyers threatening to destroy me, and ruin whatever life I had. I decided to keep Lynn a secret, and pay her off. She came a year or so ago wanting shared custody. I fought hard to decline it, but Lynn wanted to know her mom. I have tried to protect her from the life of being Aaron Echoll's child," he says watching as a nurse comes in to check on him.

"Why, I mean that's not your problem," I ask honestly.

"You know I was Lilly's dad, but left to protect her. The moment I saw Lynn I knew I had to protect her from the media. She's only 8; I don't want her to grow up like me. I want her have a family that loves and cares for her," he says pinching his nose as the nurse takes his IV out.

"The doctor will be in shortly to go over you discharge paperwork and medicine," the nurse says as she walks out of the room.

"I am trying to wrap my head around Caitlin and your dad," I say honestly. He laughs at that.

"I thought the same thing, but he did sleep with Lilly and she was my ex-girlfriend. He seemed to like my ex's," he smirks at me causing me to laugh as well.

"I'm glad he won't be around to harm anyone else in our lives," I say smiling. We sit there for the next two hours telling each other about our little girls. I learned that Lynn was named by him after Caitlin handed over the girl because she hadn't really named her. He had help from my dad in knowing just how to raise her, he said he didn't want to screw her up. I laughed at that. She loves just about anything he cooks for her, loves to spend time with Alicia and my dad. I feel a little left out in some of the stories he is telling me, but put a smile on my face anyway.

"Mr. Echoll's I hear you are having quite a time keeping track of this little lady," the doctor says as he points toward me.

"Yeah, she's a flighty one," he mocks at me smiling. I listen as the doctor tells him to take it easy; try not to stand for long periods of time. He gives him some pain medicine and lets him know his cat-scan showed nothing serious. His headaches might just be from his head being hit too hard. He gives him the paper work to sign, and hands him a bag of his personal items.

"You ready to break out of this cell," I ask getting up quickly to emphasize my point. He smiles.

"I missed you," he says into my hair as he is snuggling into my side after getting dressed in his own clothing.

"I missed you too," I say as he sits in the wheelchair the nurse brings in for him. I walk beside him to our future. I am hoping that things will work out to keep both of us from heartbreak again.

******XOXOXOXO******

**Logan**

"Veronica," I yell for the second time trying to move. I have to use the bathroom so bad and have two sleeping girls on my lap. I have been home for two weeks and things have gone rather smoothly for us. We seemed to get right into a routine, it's strange that even though 6 years has passed by it still seems like only yesterday we were 19.

"Logan, shh!" she says as she enters the living room.

"Don't shh me, I need to use the bathroom," I say aggravated. Does she have any idea how hard it is to hold it in when your blander feels like it's ready to burst?

"Welcome to the pregnant woman's world," she smirks laughing at me as she sees my confused look.

"Seriously," I say holding in a laugh because of the urge to flee. She moves Lynn just in time as I move slowly, but as fast as I could to the bathroom near the kitchen. I am so ticked that I barely make it before the dam breaks.

"Must have been one heck of a drink," she smirks as I pull my junk back into my pants.

"Hey, out," I say half shooing her out of the door.

"You should learn to close the door than," she laughs walking out of the small hallway between the garage and kitchen. I know how nervous we both were two weeks ago coming here, but she seemed to be okay with the living arrangement. She had a spare bedroom upstairs next to Lilly's room. Lynn's room was on the other side of the hallway next to the master bedroom. I was staying downstairs in the guest room Dick usually used when he was in the dog house with Mac. It was a surprise that first night to turn over only to find that Veronica had slipped into my bed. She thought she was sneaky because she slipped out before I woke up, but she has done it every night since then.

"Have you been baking?" I ask as I see the dozens of cookies lining the counter.

"Why didn't you tell me about the missing woman?" she asks softly as I look toward the living room where the girls were still sleeping.

"I was afraid of how you would handle it," I say honestly.

"I know her," she mumbles. I pull away from her to see the tears falling down.

"What," I ask.

"She was the nanny Jake had hired to help me with Lilly. She was my friend," she says wrapping herself back into my arms. This wasn't good at all. This was way too close for it to be not connected to her, and I know that is what she must be thinking about as well.

*****XOXOXOXO******

?POV

I hated watching that asshole with my woman. I hated watching him take her away from me all those years ago as well. I bet it would wipe that damn smirk off his face if he knew I hurt all these women because he took her away from me. Would he still be her knight in shining armor or would she drop him like the roach he is.

What does he have that I don't? I have a family business, I own it actually. I have money from outside activities. I don't have any children with her, but if I could get her alone that would change. I hate looking down at them as they play house together. Man I wish I could just take him out once and for all, but there are too many people around them all the time. I mean even he has a wall of protection, but hers is even thicker than his. Ugh! I need to think of a way to get her alone.

I watch as she exits the fortress with the two girls chasing after a small dog. He stands at the doorway of the back porch. A few security men go ahead of the three blondes looking around as they make it to the beach to play in the water. I am getting so angry at him having what I want. He has to go, I need him gone.

"What," I snap as I answer my phone. Why would they be bothering me right now?

"You need to get your ass to the office," my cousin says as I hear the damn voice of the one person I hate more than the dipshit below me, Sheriff Mars.


	9. Chapter 9

Veronica Mars

Broken Lives

Chapter 9:

**Logan**

Time seemed to be flying as we were reconnecting with each other. Veronica was so different than what I remembered, she was more timid like before Lilly died. There were times when we would disagree that I would see a flash of the old her, but not often. She was upset when she found out everyone was trying to keep her in the dark with the woman who was kidnapped, but then she broke down and told us why it hurt so badly. The woman was the nanny that Jake Kane has helped her with. That startling revelation hit home even more when the woman's body was found a few days later on the beach near her old apartment. The woman had been beaten, and left naked, but what was different was a message craved into her skin, "_**Welcome home Veronica**_". 

Keith wanted to keep it from her, but she needed to know. I loved watching her with the girls; she was so good with them. Lynn really liked Veronica as well; it was a major factor when I talked with Cliff to get full custody of her again. Caitlin was adamant about not wanting to give up her rights, but changed her mind when Lynn spent the weekend talking nonstop about Lilly and Veronica. Caitlin dissolved any parental right to her for a lump sum. I was upset about her wanting any money, but was glad she was no longer a part of my life or Lynn's. 

"Don't think to hard or you might burst that red vein right there," Veronica smirked as she pointed to my forehead. She caught me off guard. 

"I thought you were asleep," I say hating the fact that I was caught watching her sleep.

"So what are you doing home early," she asks as I sit down on the floor next to the couch.

"I went by the office, but the Sheriff sent me home. He said something about the County Commissioner needing to stay out of the office for another 2 weeks or something. I drove by to see Eli for lunch and finalized some paperwork with Cliff," I say watching the waves outside.

"Logan, it's only been a month. Dad just wants to make sure your better before you return," she says as Lilly's voice can be heard from the patio. Dick was giving both girls pointers on getting up on a surfboard.

"They are just too fun," I say watching them laughing and splashing in the pool.

"Their ours at least," Veronica says as she sits up to watch them as well. She treated Lynn just like she Lilly. I loved the fact that she never made any comments about the girls not being related. I don't know what she thought about the whole ordeal because I haven't brought it up, but if she was bothered with Lynn staying with us full time she didn't show it. I grab Veronica's hand helping her up as we walk out onto the patio.

"Daddy, look," Lilly says smiling as she stands on her wake board. Lynn is up on a board as well.

"You are both doing great. I wish I could be teaching you this instead of Uncle Dick," I say as I kick water in his direction.

"Don't worry bro, when you get healed we can go do the real thang with them," he says laughing as his son knocks both girls off their boards. We hang out for an hour longer till Dick leaves to head home. I order pizza for dinner. After dinner Veronica helps both girls get ready for bed, and then I read them a story. As I tuck Lynn in I can hear Veronica vaguely talking with Lilly. I peek into the room and we switch places.

"Daddy," Lilly says as I sit down on the bed beside her.

"Yeah," I reply pulling out her favorite book.

"I love you," she says as she snuggles into my lap.

"I love you too," I say as I open the book and start reading to her. As I read the last sentence I look down to see her completely asleep. I put the book on the nightstand, move her back to her bed and tuck her in. I give her a kiss on the forehead and leave her.

I walk out of her room shutting the door halfway. I see the guest bedroom door open with the light on so I walk to it. Veronica still used it to start the night off and to begin the morning, but in the middle of the night she still found her way into my bed. I laughed inside my head at her silliness.

"Hey," I say as I walk into the room. She is sitting up in the bed with a tank top on and some sweats. I see a file in her lap.

"Logan, do you miss what we had," she asks looking up from the papers.

"Sometimes, but I like where we are right now. I don't feel pressure to live up to your high standards," I say mockingly.

"I am not that person anymore," she says putting all the papers into the file.

"I know. We have both changed," I say, but she just shakes her head.

"I dated one guy while I was away. I never slept with him or stayed over. I thought about you all the time, but never came back. I kept myself going with Lilly, knowing you were here safe," she stops as I sit down next to her.

"Ronnie, things will get better," I say tucking a few loose hairs behind her ear.

"Why haven't you told me about this?" she questions as she hands me the file. I open it to see it's everything about the incident with Gorya right after she left. She was looking over the notes from her dad's report and the pictures of the beating I took at his hands.

"Where did you get this?" I snap, as I watch her flinch.

"I found it in your desk when I was looking for something," she mumbles. Of course she went through my office. I needed fresh air. I walked away from her as she softly started to cry. I was still holding the file in my hands as I slammed it down on my desk. I grabbed a tumbler off the shelf and poured me a drink. I went out on the patio, walked down to the shore and sat down. Why was this so hard? Why did it make me mad for her to see that file?

****XOXOXOXOXO******

**Veronica**

I was still crying as I went to the window after hearing the patio door open. I was about to follow him, but decided to just watch over him. Why did I have to snoop? I can see he has a glass in his hand, but I never see him take a drink from it. The sounds of the waves from the ocean help calm me down. I decide to do something different.

I walk down the hall to his room and open the door. I have been finding my way to this room every night for a month. I usually wait until he is asleep and then join him. I don't know why but just being in close proximity with him helps me to forget the world around me. I feel safe with him. I have no more energy tonight to do the cat and mouse game, so I lay down on the side of the bed I always steal and pull his pillow to me.

I can hear the slow crashing of the waves in the distance. I barely hear him coming back into the house. I don't hear anything else as I drift to sleep with unshed tears hanging in my eyes.

"Ronnie, shh," I hear a voice softly whispering in my ear. "Ronnie, come on your safe," I hear it say again as I feel myself being pulled. I quickly open my eyes as I try to pull away from the person.

"Logan," I whisper as I begin to take in my surroundings. I was in his bed still. I think back to why I was in here, but remember our little fight.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be in here," I stammer as I go to get out of his arms and bed.

"Veronica, its alright. It isn't like you wouldn't have found your way into here sooner or later," he smirks at me. Of course he knew what I had been doing.

"I have always felt safer when I was close to you," I whisper sitting down on his bed again.

"I wouldn't have stopped you from sleeping in here. I just thought we needed space," he says looking behind me as I turn to see Lilly and Lynn both.

"Girls," I say smiling. They both enter the room climbing on the bed.

"Are you guys fighting?" Lynn asks as she settles in beside Logan. I move back up to the head of the bed pulling Lilly with me.

"No, we were just talking," Logan says as he kisses her forhead.

"I told you Lilly we missed the good stuff," Lynn says as she nudges Lilly.

"Mommy," Lilly says as she looks over to me.

"Yes, sweetie," I say as I brush some loose strands out of her eyes.

"Can I have five dollars?" she asks. I notice Logan looking over at us as Lynn just smiles.

"Um, why do you need five dollars?" I asked.

"I owe it to Lynn, she was right," she whispers almost more timid than usual.

"Lynn," Logan says trying hard to retain his smirk.

"What, she lost fair and square," she replies. I finally get it Lynn hustled Lilly. I start laughing at how funny it is because both Logan and I have done this same thing to each other and our friends.

"Yep, I think we are going to be fine," Logan says after he stops laughing. The girls snuggle into the bed with us as we go to sleep for the night. It turned out that we were both learning to cope, but we had time to figure things out. I was going to be the person Logan deserved, but I just hope I am not too late.

Logan and I discussed everything that he and I both thought were the most relevant matters that occurred to both of us in the last 6 years. He told me all about his drinking; the fight or beat down Gorya gave him. He told me how my dad and all my friends were there to help him, but my dad really pulled him together. I was thankful for that, but felt bad to know that Logan took our break up so bad. I never really understood how deeply he loved me. I guess in a way I took it for granted just like Lilly did.

I told him about going to Virginia for my internship, coming back home to just turn around and leave again. I explained in detail why I felt safer asking Jake Kane for help instead of my own dad. I told him that at the time I thought I was doing the right thing, but now would have done things differently. I shared all the little details of Lilly's 5 years with me. I even told him I tried to document all of her firsts so that one day I could share them with him. He cried that he missed all of it, but was glad I kept her safe. I gave him little details of the cases I worked on, and tried to share as much of my accident with him as I could remember.

We both cried after that conversation. I hated that it took me getting hurt to realize how much this seedy town meant to me. It wasn't until I actually got out of Neptune did I really understand that no matter where I went it was home. It's sad that it took what it did to get me back to it.

"Hey," Logan says as he comes into his office with some coffee and the newspaper. It's been three months since our conversation. We decided that we needed to work on our lives together if we were going to make it as a couple. I mean we actually had a very adult conversation without drinking or yelling at each other. Logan has been back to work, and I have been watching both girls.

"What are the plans for today?" I ask as he hands me my coffee.

"Well I thought you would like to know that Dick wants to hang out here with you and the girls," he says knowing that Dick and I have been working on a friendship. We talked about being civil to each other for our families, but he did remind me that if I hurt Logan he would hunt me down and take care of me. I was a little worried about that though, but Logan assured me he wouldn't let him.

"Do I have to?" I half whine questioning him.

"I guess it's up to you, but I will be busy today," he says opening the newspaper and quickly closing it before reaching for the phone. I get up worried that something bad was in the news, but he just shook his head as he pushes some numbers. "Keith, you need to get here," he says quickly closing the phone.

"What is it?" I question walking around the desk to where he was seated. He opens the newspaper, and in red letters, "I'm coming for you Detective" was written over a black and white photo of me and the girls on the beach outside the house. There was a bull's-eye mark over my face while X's were over theirs.

"V, your dad's on his way. I will not let anything happen to you," Logan says as I hear the girls laughing outside.

"Lilly, Lynn come inside," I yell out the window of his office as I see the two of them playing just beyond the patio.

"Veronica," Logan starts but I hold my hand up to him.

"I will not jeopardize their lives. I already made that mistake once, I will not do it again," I whimper as I walk out of the room toward the living room to meet up with the girls.

"Mom, look what we found," Lilly says as she holds up a crab. I knew it was wrong but I had to laugh seeing them holding up crabs that were still moving.

"Wow, didn't even have to leave the house for dinner," Logan jokes asking them to see the crabs.

"Daddy, they are dinner," Lynn says holding hers closer to her.

"Careful, they do pinch," I warn as the crab snaps her shirt causing her to drop it and shriek.

"I hope you're not hurting my grandbabies," my dad calls as he comes into the room causing Lilly to drop hers as well and run to him.

"Right," I say loudly grabbing the dish towel and quickly picking up both crabs before they get to far. Logan comes up behind me as my dad is tickling the girls.

"I would love to cook those," he says nipping at my ear.

"Sorry, I have no dreams of taking you to the hospital," I reply back knowing full well about his allergies toward shellfish.

"Just making sure," he says softly taking the moment to redirect my dad. Lynn and Lilly run toward the stairs as my dad passes off something to them.

"Nice dad," I say half smacking him as I follow the men into the office. My dad is looking over the newspaper holding it out with gloves on. As he turns it over I notice something on the corner. "There's a partial," I say pointing to the smudge.

"Yes, it looks like it might be enough for a match," my dad says with a tight smile. "Keep them close, please," he says as I walk with him and Logan to the door.

"I will," Logan says as he turns around. "I guess it's a sick day," he half mumbles knowing how much I hate being babysat.

"No, you are going to go to work. The girls and I will find something to do," I say as I try to think of something.

"Then if I am going to work I am going to make a phone call," he says with a slight smirk on his face. I hope I didn't just do something wrong. "Hey, I need a favor." He says to the person on the other end of the call. I can see how he is happy, he has flustered me.


	10. Chapter 10

Veronica Mars

Broken Lives

Chapter 10

**Veronica**

If Logan thought that I would just sit back and let him tell me what to do he was very mistaken. I would go along with his plan only if it helped me to do what I needed to do. First thing was I needed to get all of the old case files of mine from my dad's house, when I moved back I had left several boxes of things of mine at his place I didn't think I would need right away. Yet, with all this crazy crap going on I needed to get those files to see if there are any similarities with things going on now. I knew there was something about a partial, but unsure if it would match the one from the newspaper.

Logan had loaded all of us up into his Land Rover, not knowing where we were even going. He drove past the beach heading toward the one place I haven't been to since I walked out on him. I had broken up with him because of him sleeping with Madison Sinclair over Christmas even though we were broken up at that time. I had barged in on him because of how he beat Piz up thinking he would actually release a sex tape of us. Those were the good times.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Logan asks as he pulls into the parking lot of The Grand.

"Whatever do you mean?" I ask giving him the head tilt and fluttering of my eyelashes.

"Yes, right there. You are up to something. Whenever you think you are being sneaky you do the head tilt and eyelash thing," he says as he hands his keys to the valet. He opens Lilly's door as I open Lynn's.

"Seriously, Logan don't over think things," I smirk as I throw my hair over my shoulder which was an old Lilly Kane move.

"Girls, promise me that you will watch your mom," Logan says as he bends down to their level. They both look from him to me.

"Why?" Lilly asks innocently.

"She is up to something, and sometimes she does things that put her in danger. She has no concept of taking things slow or letting the police do their job," he says as we walk into the lobby area.

"Grandpa is police," Lynn says laughing. I just don't understand what the big deal was.

"Yes, he is Lynn. Yet, that has never stopped Veronica Mars from doing her own thing," say the voice of someone who has been giving me the cold shoulder since I got back.

"Weevil, think of the devil and they shall appear," I say as I yet again flip my hair over my shoulder.

"Are you sure I need to watch them and not this blonde one?" he smirks back.

"Eli, I want all three of them watched. You of all people know I can't trust that one," Logan says as he points to me.

"That's not fair," I snap not in the mood for joking around any longer. "Just get the room of whatever so you can go to work," I snap a little mad at them. Logan goes up to the counter and gets all of the paperwork signed handing Weevil a keycard to the room while going up to the Presidential Suite.

"Okay, so you guys can relax here, enjoy your day," Logan says softly to the girls as he opens the door allowing them to go in. "Veronica," he says stopping me in the hallway.

"What?" I say without even looking at him.

"I want you to know that all kidding aside I worry about you. My concern isn't whether you can handle yourself or not, but this man was able to get so close to us. If anything happens to you or Lilly now that I have you back, it would destroy me," he whispers as he lifts my head to look at him.

"I don't like you doing this. For your information I have taken care of myself for 6 years. I have kept my daughter safe as well," I snap jerking away from him.

"Right, I forgot our daughter is now your daughter," he says looking really hurt. He walks past me into the suite. Great that didn't come out like it should have, but he needs to understand I'm not the same person I was all those years ago.

"Mom, look at the view," Lilly says as she grabs my hand pulling me toward the balcony doors. I already see Lynn out there.

"I can't thank you enough for this Eli. I know you have work to do, but you were the only one I knew would stand up to Ronnie," I hear him say as he hands Eli something.

"I brought a few things to work on. Plus you know I like to hang with Lynn," he says smiling as she gives him a high five.

"Yeah, I think though with her it's the bike she likes not the person," he says laughing as she nods her head.

"Awe, man here I thought it was all me," he says tickling her. I was surprised just how at easy they all were with one another. God, things have sure changed.

"Veronica, please just stay here. Let Eli do his job," Logan says as he moves toward me. I don't move away from him, but he wasn't coming for me. I realize shortly after that Lilly had come back from the balcony.

"Lilly will you listen to my friend Eli. He'll make sure that you guys have fun," Logan says as he gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay," she says as Lynn grabs her hand leading her back to the balcony. He stands back up, and pulls me into a hug.

"Please just stay here. I meant it when I said I wouldn't survive you getting yourself hurt," he says kissing my forehead as well before walking out the door.

"Ugh!" I yell as I stomp into the room that was once his. I pull out my cell phone knowing that trying to get away probably wouldn't end well with Eli watching us.

"Veronica," Mac says as she answers the phone.

"Hey, Logan has kidnapped me and holding me hostage," I say as I hear laughing on her end.

"Really, I don't think putting you in a hotel and hanging Eli watch you is kidnapping," Dick says.

"Seriously, am I on speaker," I ask a little angry.

"Sorry, we are driving to the beach," Mac says as I hear he little boy laughing.

"Logan called you," I say watching as Lilly opens the door to the room.

"Yeah, just got off right before you called, he made me promise not to go get you if you called," she says.

"Oh," I say trying to think. "No, I wasn't planning on escaping, but I could use a favor," I say.

"Mac, isn't suppose to help you at all Ronnie," Dick says.

"Ugh!" I yell again.

"Ronnie, don't yell. I said Mac wasn't to help you. I don't want her to do anything that might put her in danger," Dick replies.

"It wasn't anything dangerous. I just need a box from my dad's garage. There are some things I need to go over in it," I say hoping he would help me.

"No problem," Dick says as I explain to him where the box should be and what it was labeled. He says he'll bring it over after they get down at the beach. Lilly lies down on the bed beside me looking at the door that she left open, I can see Eli and Lynn sitting on the couch.

"Mom, is the man outside nice," she questions fluttering her eyelashes at me.

"Eli, yeah he was a friend once upon a time. He is friends with your dad now," I say pulling her to me. I close my eyes as I try to figure out who might be after me.

*****XOXOXOXOXO******

**Kidnapper**

I followed them closely over the last several months, but even right now as I watched the Mayor and Veronica get into his vehicle with those two brats that they have I felt the anger of him taking her away from me once again burn my lungs. I tried to calm myself down focusing on her hair and how shiny it was or even the simple dress she wore that that showed off how amazing her legs looked. Oh, my I wish I could get her. I bet she was great in bed.

I continued to follow them even as they pulled into the parking lot of the Grand. I had actually stayed her for a little while back when I first became obsessed with her. My first victim was actually a stunning replica of Veronica. She was amazing in bed, but she was a screamer for sure. I even killed her here in this hotel and moved her body to where she was found. She was only 17 at the time. I later found out after her death that she went to PAN High not Neptune. It didn't matter to me.

I saw that bald PI that took over for Sheriff Mars came in shortly after. He was good at getting information out of people that was for sure. He put a few of my companions away, but my bone wasn't with him right now. I still had to give him some payback for hurting my business several years ago. I parked my car and walked into the lobby of the Grand. I pulled my baseball cap down tighter around my head and kept my dark shades over my eyes.

I caught a glimpse of Veronica and could tell she wasn't happy about something. I remember that look on her face when she walked into the room where I had left her present. She had a puzzled look come over her so fast it was hard to decipher it, but then she quickly looked away. They all went to get in an elevator. I followed behind them, but stopped at the elevator area to see what floor they got off on. It went all the way to the top. Shit, they would be in the Presidential Suite. I would have a hard time getting to her there.

I decided to go back to work knowing there would be no way of getting to her at the moment. I would have to wait until she was alone, or there were less people around. As I was walking back to my car someone bumped into me.

"Dude, I didn't see you there," the young man says as he walks by me.

"Whatever," I snap as I continue walking away. I get into my car and head out.

*****XOXOXOXXOXO******

**Logan**

I felt like crap walking away from Veronica the way I did, but I knew in all honesty that she would go off the handle if I left her alone. She needed someone to look after her like she did everyone else. I made sure to call Mac and discuss with her not enabling Veronica. She was pregnant and really didn't need to be put in a compromising situation. Dick of course agreed with me, but I think it was more because Mac was carrying his spawn than anything else.

Dick called me right as I was getting into the office. He told me about the call from Veronica, but how he was adamant about Mac not helping her. He did though agree to get her a box from her dad's place. I called Eli to let him know Dick would be over there later. I looked through my e-mail sorting them into items needed to be answered and those to erase.

"How are you doing?" I ask after she picks up the phone.

"Lilly asked me if Eli was my friend," she says softly.

"Why?" I asked not sure if it really mattered either way.

"I guess because he was with us. Logan I don't like being babysat by someone. I want to say I have been able to take care of myself before now," she says a little angry.

"Veronica, I know you have. This is all new to me, like I told you before if anything happened to you or Lilly it would destroy me. I have spent 6 years trying to grow up, but the moment you come waltzing back into my life all bets are off," I say as honestly as I could.

"Oh Logan, we are such a fine pair," she says quietly.

"I have some things to take care of, but we will be staying at the Grand for a little while longer. We'll talk when I get back. I love you V," I say softly as I hang up not wanting to hear her reply because if it wasn't the same thing it wouldn't really matter to me. I know she still cares, but love was something she always ran from.

I spent the next several hours going over different plans for new businesses or solutions to problems in the city. Yet, with all the different meetings and people talking to me I couldn't shake a feeling that the person doing this to Veronica was someone from her past, but who it was really was the mystery. I mean during high school she had a lot of enemies. In college she made a few, but the first victim from the case files was a girl our senor year. She was from PAN High.

"Where are the girls?" I asked Eli when I entered the suite at 8:30.

"V, is in that room. The girls are both in bed in that room," he says pointed to the two different rooms as he makes his comment.

"I have a room for you if you don't mind staying here for the night," I say as he exits the room.

"I'll run home and come back," he calls out as he closes the door. I laugh as I walk into the girls room. They were both snuggled up together. Lynn had no clue that I wasn't her dad. I made sure Catilyn didn't tell her anything else. Everyone who wasn't close to me knew the fake story, but those who were my family knew the truth. I would tell her it when she was ready, but for now she didn't need to be stressed with that fate.

Lilly on the other hand was my daughter in every way. I loved her more than anything else, but knew in an instant she could be gone. Veronica could destroy me if she ran. I knew this whole thing was stressing both of us, but more likely Veronica. She was a person who needed to be in control. I kissed both girls on the forehead and went in the direction of the other room.

"I brought you some clothes," I say as I open the door to the room. My eyes take a moment to adjust to the scene in front of me.

"Logan," she says as she pulls on the robe she had hanging halfway open.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snap angrily taking in the sight before me.

"I can explain," she says softly. I hope she didn't think things would go her way any time soon because she was very mistaken.


	11. Chapter 11

Veronica Mars

Chapter 11

**Veronica**

I had been working on trying to link all of the mess in front of me for hours, but I couldn't so it laying it all out. I needed it up on the wall.

"Eli, I need a few rolling boards, a whiteboard and some pins, maybe even a laptop," I say when I enter the living room area.

"Sure let me pull them out of my" he starts but stops when he sees the girls entering the room again.

"Mommy," Lynn says as I look at her tears on her face.

"What happened?" I ask softly not making a big deal of her calling me mommy.

"We were jumping on the bed," Lilly days softly as I can see what happened; she fell off of the bed. For some reason the monkey jumping on the bed makes a lot more sense now. I hold back the giggle that I want to do because I can see how upset Lynn was about falling.

"I see," I give them both a smile. As I pull them close to me. Logan was right it would be wrong to do anything dangerous when I have a family, but I still wasn't going to sit by. I was going to take this person down to protect my family.

I walked both girls to the couch, cleaned Lynn's cut and put a band aid on it. After I kissed it to make it better they ran back into the other room. "No more jumping on the bed," I yell out as I look over at Eli. He has a huge smirk on his face. "What I have been doing the parent act for a while now," I say plopping down beside him on the sofa.

"What do you need the items for?" He questions me looking over the file he had in his hand. I stand up and begin to lead him into the room I had been in. He was looking at the mess all around it.

"I had Dick bring me the box of files I had on stalker person. I kept a set of the materials to study because I knew after the explosion I would be removed from the case so before my old team could leave me in the dark I got as much as I could," I say as he picks up one of the photos that was on the bed closer to him.

"I want to pin everything up and try to match the dots. I know I am missing something, but can't figure it out," I mutter looking at all the files lying all around. He went into the other room and made some calls, 15 minutes later everything I asked for was in the room. He helped me pin up pictures and make a time line of events. It was dinner time so I decided to take a break. I shut the door to keep the girls out. As I ate with Lynn and Lilly he was typing away on his laptop. At one point he muttered a few choice words then looked up to notice the girls looking at him.

"Sorry, next time I'll say them in Spanish," he mumbles giving an apologetic look.

"Mommy says bad words are not really nice to say, no matter the language," Lilly says as she takes a bite out of her pizza.

"Your mommy has said a lot of bad words in her lifetime," he retorts giving me an eyebrow.

"Yes, but I try not to use that language in front of her," I say giving him my head tilt.

"Uncle Eli can you not say them," Lynn says as she does the same thing I just did. I have to laugh when I look over to Lilly who was doing the exact same thing, but as my laugh breaks free I notice them both flick their hair over their shoulder.

"On, no, no you have corrupted these sweet innocent little girls," Eli says as he begins to tickle Lynn and then move to Lilly. Both of the girls run to the sofa and he attacks them again. They are a puddle of a mess of pillows, legs and laughter on the ground when someone knocks on the door.

*****XOXOXOXOXO******

**Keith **

"Sheriff," Eli says as he opens the door. I half expected to see him tied up and the girls running around crazy.

"Dad," Veronica says when I step into the room. She is putting sofa cushions where they go and picking up pillows. I probably walked into a tornado.

"So, whatcha been doing," I question as she looks from me to Eli who was standing beside me.

"Awe, look Eli, Dad is playing dad," she mocks toward me.

"Laugh it up daughter of mine, but I for one was thankful Logan got you here. Would it be to hard for you to limit your criminal activity to one place," I half joke.

"What do you mean? I haven't left the penthouse all day," she says looking puzzled.

"Yeah, but you had a guy caller who is actually married to your best friend hanging around the house for you," I say raising my eyebrows a little at her. I saw the look of recognition wash over her face.

"I asked Dick to pick up a box of things for me from the garage. I mean it was my stuff so I didn't think about calling," she says with just a little bit of sarcasm. Yep, I was wondering if my feisty daughter was still in that woman.

"What was so important in that box? I mean Logan or I could have got it and brought it here," I questions getting a raised eyebrow from Eli who has sat down on the sofa, and was half pretending to be interested in a file.

"Dad, not everything I do is undermining to you. I will remind you like I reminded Logan this morning. I had a life for six years before coming back. I raised my little girl and protected her during that time," she is deluded if that line will work with me.

"You did a swell of a job protecting her last year. You almost died Veronica sometimes you need to ask for help, but no you won't. It's always been Veronica Mars against the world," I bit out at her. I wanted to say more, but I could tell Lynn and Lilly weren't aware of everything totally.

"Dad," she says but I hold up my hand and walk off into the bedroom where I saw Lilly peek out of. I just couldn't take anymore lies or half truths right now.

"So, my two little girls. Are you ready for grandpa time?" I question as I pick up the bag I had brought with me. I spent the next hour and half with them. We colored, read from a book and Lilly wanted to say prayers. She prayed that her mommy wouldn't leave her daddy. It broke me to think this little girl probably understood more than Veronica would want to admit. After I had tucked them into bed I slipped out as they talked to each other.

Veronica was sitting on the sofa with a laptop open. She was lost in her own world when she looked up. Her face looked like she had seen a ghost. She didn't look well at all, but before I could say anything to her she dashed into the other room leaving Eli staring at her retreating form.

"Why didn't I see it sooner?" she says without thinking.

"See what," Eli says as he enters the room she went into. I just followed behind him trying to see what had made her run off. I sure wasn't prepared for the mini police headquarters set up she had made.

"Veronica," I snap, she looks over at me with a whatever look.

"Logan wouldn't let me leave. I am not doing anything dangerous," she says as she makes air quotes over 'dangerous'.

"This is why Dick came over to the house. He picked up this stuff," I ask. She just nods her head. "I bet he didn't even know what he was picking up did he," I ask already knowing the answer to that.

"I asked for the box labeled backup," she said. Of course to her backup wouldn't be for her dog, but backup information on her case files. Yeah that was smart because I doubt even Dick would get a box for her labeled case files.

"So, why did you just run in here," Eli asks as she motions to us.

"See here," she is pointing to a photo with a partial finger print. "This was the only print found at the scene of the explosion I was in. All of the other bodies or crime scenes were wiped clean. My memory of that whole night is still fuzzy, but this print was found on a branding iron," she stops talking and looks back toward us.

"Eli, why don't you give Veronica and I some time," I say as he nods and walks out of the room. I close the doors. "Did you remember something?" I question.

"No, not really the partial that was found was from a finger that had been burned," she says as she turns to look at me.

"What do you mean?" I question.

"Our forensics team said the person who left the print must have been in a fire or something because half of the print was scared skin. There would be no way to find the person without accurate finger prints," she says as sits down on the bed.

"I was actually coming over here to talk with you and Logan about that as well. The partial that was left on the newspaper this morning was the same way," I say realizing that the at least it wasn't someone different.

"Dad, there is something else. I made the hospital staff leave this out of the investigation because it was something I didn't want anyone to know. The person who is doing this branded me," she says as a few stray tears slip from her eyes.

"What do you mean branded you?" I almost yell, but keep my voice steady. My baby girl was branded, what does that mean. Who would be so cruel to do that to anyone?

"I didn't even realize what it was until a few days later, when one of the doctors came in to ask me about the burned mark," she says as she goes into the bathroom. I am stunned speechless not understanding what she was saying really.

******XOXOXOXOXOXOXO******

**Veronica**

"What burn mark are you talking about?" my dad questions me as I walk back into the room from the bathroom in my tank top and a pair of boxers I wore. I had them on under the sundress. I made sure to put on the complimentary robe that I found in the bathroom. I can tell from his expression that he wasn't going to like what I had to say or show him.

"I thought it might have just been something from the explosion, but as it healed, it became more distinct," I say as I lift up my tank top and pull down the top portion of the boxer slightly to show the top of my right hip. I usually wore a makeup patch to cover it up, but I had taken it off to show him.

"Is that a clover," he questions. I nod my head as I rack my brain back to that night, but unfortunately I don't get there in my mind because the door opens.

"I brought you some clothes," Logan says as he opens the door to the room.

"Logan," I say as I am pulling the robe that was hanging halfway off closed wrapping my arms around myself in the process. I felt vulnerable in the moment like his eyes were judging me

"What the hell are you doing?" he snaps toward me and my dad angrily.

"I can explain," I say softly. I just hoped he understood why I was doing this. I mean I just couldn't sit around all day doing nothing.

"I thought you understood my need to keep you safe, but here you are doing what you always do. God, Veronica why can't you let the Police or your dad handle this crap. Why do you have to tangle in with it? That's right who am I kidding your Veronica Mars, you have to do things your way no matter the people who get hurt or are placed in danger because of it," he yells. I hadn't seen him this upset or mad in so long. Finally the real Logan has come out from hiding.

"If you can't understand this is something I have to do, then maybe there shouldn't be an us," she mutters giving me a death glare.

"Is that what you want?" he questions looking right at me.

"No, but I need to know why this is happening and why am I the one he seems fascinated with," I say as a memory from that night hits me like a ton of bricks.

****Flashback****

_I am creeping toward the apartment door of the location that we got the pinged signal of the missing girls phone. I had called in for backup, but that was almost 20 minutes ago. I was at the edge of the door frame debating if I should barge in or wait. I heard a yell and silence. I decided to break the door down._

"_Police," I yell out as I kick in the door. I see a pool table in the middle of the room, and then I see the girl tied to a chair to the side of it. I rush forward to get to her, but before I can I feel a burning sensation on my hip. I turn slightly just as I someone punches me in the face. _

"_I can now finish what I started years ago," the voice says as I try to move my arms, but I have been tied down._

"_You don't have to do this," I plead as I open my eyes only to find that they have been covered._

"_I knew you would come, I have been trying to get to you for years. I can still see you just the way you were all those years ago," he whispers in my ear. I pull at the restraints trying to free myself as panic begins to feel me. _

"_Pleas let the girl go, let her go and I'll stay," I whisper._

"_Oh, I can't do that. The girl has long passed on; she was dead before you even barged in. You weren't able to save her either. That must be hard," he gleefully tells me as he rips my shirt causing me to shudder. His hands felt strange like they were rough or burned._

"_Why are you doing this?" I question._

"_I have tried to get you for so long, but you are a tricky girl. I took pity once when I saw you were pregnant, but then you kept that little shit. I had to get to you, but I knew you were being watched. I decided if I couldn't have you then no one could. Don't worry Veronica, I'll make sure to tell that shithead Logan just how you died. To think I only wanted to brand you, to brand you to murder you," he says as darkness takes over._

_*****END*****_

Oh my god I knew who was behind this. I can't believe I hadn't figured it out sooner. There were little signs all over the bodies. I missed all of it because I wasn't sure what I was looking for. He wanted to brand me back then, but Logan and busted in protecting me. I was the reason so many women lost their lives, this sick murderer is hurting innocent women just because he wants to drive a point home to me.

"I know who is behind this," I say as I try to sit up, but I feel two arms holding me.

"Shh! You fainted and hit your head," Logan says as my dad walks back into the room with some ice in his hand.

"I don't like to fight," I whisper to him as I turn slightly to look at him.

"I should be the one apologizing. Veronica I know who you are, I guess I thought that maybe the near brush with death or the fact you had our daughter might have changed you, but you wouldn't be you if you didn't sneak around," Logan says with a tight smile. I knew he wasn't happy, but it was progress.

"I know that what we have right now is something I don't want to lose. I have missed having you in my life; the past few months gave me hope that there could be more. I want more with you Logan, but I can't change who I am to fit your life," I say as my dad hands me the ice. I put it on my head. I just realized how bad it hurt.

"Okay, I think you two have some serious conversation in the future, but I think I heard you say you knew who was behind this," my dad the great supporter blurts out cutting the rest of my rant.

"Actually we all know him. It's Liam Fitzpatrick," I say.

"That's not possible, he's dead," Logan and my dad say at the same time.


	12. Chapter 12

Veronica Mars

Chapter 12

**Veronica**

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, he was dead. No, I was sure of who was doing this to me. It was Liam, it could only be him. Who else would do something so demented but him?

"It is him," I say looking back over the photos and notes all over the place.

"I wish it was that easy, but he was confirmed dead as his body was the only one in the bar," my dad says pulling at the partial print I had. He opened the folder he was holding. He places the two prints next to each other.

"Keith," Logan says as my dad pulls out another paper.

"It could be possible. I mean, he could have staged his death or been barely alive when he was taken to the morgue. There are so many possibilities. I closed the case quickly because everyone thought he was dead," my dad says as if a light bulb went off in his head.

"I think it was more because his family was pushing so hard for it to be over," Logan says softly coming over to where I was now standing.

"Oh my gosh, I actually had his prints taken at the morgue. I could get Leo to check them," he says pulling out his phone.

"Why Leo, can we trust him," I ask worried.

"Yes, Leo can be trusted, but I will wait till tomorrow to do it," my dad says pulling me into his arms.

"Daddy, why would this person do this to all these women just to get to me. What is so special about me?" I question trying to wrap my head around this whole situation.

"It's not all about you honey, this man is just sick," he says as he walks toward the bedroom door. "I think I am going to head out, I will call you in the morning," he says as he leaves us. I wait until I hear the door close to the suite before I turn to look at Logan. He had been very quiet.

"Logan are you okay," I ask waiting for him to look away from the evidence walls I had made.

"I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this. I mean I didn't expect you to just hang out here all day, but you did so much work with this that it hasn't hit home yet," he mutters finally looking at me.

"I needed to do something constructive. I hate just sitting around doing nothing," I say as I sit down on the bed. "That was why I was such a great Detective; I got the answers that I wanted quickly. I spent hours doing research and making walls like this," I say almost sick to my stomach that even now I was allowing this to consume me.

"I went to L.A. once about a year after you left. I watched you for awhile, but when I saw you it seemed like you were finally happy. I felt bad because I wanted to run to you asking you to come home with me, but I couldn't do that. I knew you weren't meant to stay here in Neptune," he says sitting down beside me.

"I would have come home with you if you had asked. I wasn't trying to hurt you, but with all the crap that had happened with Gory, it seemed better to get a clean break. I was barely hanging in the first two years, but Lilly kept me going. I knew she needed me or I would have come running home," I say as honest as I could.

"We sure make a fine pair," he says laying back.

"Lynn called me 'mom' today," I say as I lay back as well turning to look at him.

"She did," he asks as he faces me.

"Yeah, it surprised me. I was cleaning her cut, they were jumping on the bed," I explained and he laughed.

"I bet you yelled something about 'no more jumping on the bed' didn't you," he asks laughing even harder.

"Yes I did. It made sense to me at the time. I remember doing the same thing with Lilly, when we were younger. We were jumping on her bed trying to see who could jump higher when Duncan came barging in the room surprising us. I fell off the bed and literally hit my head on the nightstand. Celeste was so angry that she wouldn't let us close the door to Lilly's room for a month," I say laughing at the small memory.

"Seriously," he asks calming his laughter.

"Yeah, Lilly was so mad at Duncan he wasn't allowed in her room for a long time. He ruined so many of our late night escapades," I say. I take the robe off and move toward the top of the bed. Logan takes his shoes, socks, pants and dress shirt off before climbing under the covers with me.

"I always thought you were wild because of Lilly, but I bet you could have been wild all on your own," he says as he pulls me to him.

"I don't know if I would have been as wild as we were together, but I could have seen myself a little like her less boy drama," I reply holding tightly to his arms that were around me. "Logan I missed you every day I was gone. I didn't date or try to me with anyone because I knew that there would never be anyone for me but you. I think deep down I would have come back to you. I was fighting it as it was," I whisper as a few tears fall from my eyes.

"I won't lie to you, I did try dating, but no one ever made sense to me like you did. I didn't sleep with anyone while we were apart," he says as I turn in his arms at what he had just said.

"No one," I ask.

"No, I knew when you ended things over the Madison thing that I had screwed up majorly. I thought that if maybe I had stayed celibate you might come back to me. I knew it was a long shot, but I also understood why you were mad about it. I had never thought about it like that. I swear though I was so drunk that night that I don't even remember sleeping with her. I woke up the next morning and we were both naked in the bed. When I realized what had happened I kicked her out," he says as he wipes at my eyes.

"You don't even remember," I ask softly knowing that his honesty was hard for him to do especially when I wasn't an open book to him either.

"Yeah," he says smiling at me before kissing my nose. "God, I missed you. I have to admit that first night you snuck into my bed I was surprised. I thought you were trying to take advantage of me until I heard the soft whimpers of yours before you fell asleep. It hurt at first when I would wake you and you were gone, but I slowly realized you weren't ready for us yet," he says as he brushes some hair out of my face. I thought I was being so sneaky and he knew from the beginning.

"Oh my god, you knew," I whispered a little embarrassed. He kissed me on the lips pulling me closer to him. I could feel his other member poking me in the thigh. I tried to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away from me.

"What are we doing?" he questions out of breath.

"We were kissing," I reply as he moves me to my back covering my body with his.

"Veronica I want you so bad right now, but I am willing to wait. I will wait for you no matter how long it is. I want you to know that it has always been you. I could never love anyone the way I love you. You are the only one I have ever needed," he says as he stares down at me. God, I wanted him so bad right now as well, but was I ready to take that step with him. Were we ready for that as a couple?

"We're a couple right?" I question him as he raises an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, if that is what you want," he says kissing me softly.

"Yes, I want you. I want all of this. I haven't wanted anything so much in my life as I want this, w3hatever this is between us to work," I say as I reach up to meet him in a kiss. He was about to pull up my shirt when a little voice brings us back to reality.

"Mommy," Lilly says as Logan moves off of me.

"Over here, baby," I say as I pull her onto the bed. As she gets comfortable Lynn appears in the doorway as well.

"Come on," Logan says to our other girl as she jumps up on the bed at the foot and works her way up to us.

"Where are you going?" I question when Logan moves to get out of bed. He points to the rolling boards. Right, wouldn't want the girls to see that stuff.

"Yes, sorry," I say when he has finished turning them around and pushing them up against the wall.

"You two little monsters have the darnest timing," he says as he tickles them. Yes, things might not be perfect, but I was safe and this was where I belonged.

***LoVe***

**Keith**

I think Veronica was right. There was something fishy about the whole case surrounding Liam Fitzpatrick. Things just didn't seem to add up anymore. His family wanted the cased closed quickly, at first I thought it was to move on with things. Yet, now with everything Veronica has been able to piece together I think we might have moved faster than we should have.

"Hello," Leo says as he answers the phone.

"I need you at the station," I say as I get into my cruiser.

"It's late Sir," he replies causing me to chuckle.

"I know it's late, but right now I don't know who I can trust," I snap as I end the call and pull into traffic. I know he would come; he was a very loyal employee. He was one of the men I knew I could trust. I pulled into my spot only to be greeted by Jake Kane and his lackey.

"Jake," I say as I get out of the cruiser.

"I went by Logan's to talk with Veronica, but they weren't there," he says as I open the door to the station.

"Yeah, there have been some developments in the case," I say softly as both men follow me in.

"Keith is she alright," he says. I have to give him credit he did care deeply for my daughter which disturbed me a little, but also humbled me. I knew she had people who loved her, but she didn't trust too many people.

"Yes, she remembered a few details and shared them with Logan and I, but this morning they received a disturbing newspaper with pictures of her and the kids. There was a partial," I stop as Leo enters the station looking worn out.

"Deputy," I say as I move from where we were toward my office. I didn't want the night shift guy who also made an appearance to hear us. Once in the office I flicked on the radio to drown out noise to prying ears.

"Sir," Leo finally says once we were all seated.

"Okay, Logan has Veronica and the girls at the Grand, eli is stationed there as well to keep an eye on them when Logan goes to work. I'm not sure how long they'll be there, but it is secure and safe right now," I start. Then I get into the details of what happened this morning with the newspaper and all the items Veronica seemed to piece together.

"She was always a sneaky thing," Leo says with a chuckle.

"I think in the morning I will had you go get the boards she has put together and set them up in here," I say but think that's it's a two person job.

"Clarence can help him if you're worried about who to trust. He can be at your disposal," Jake says as he looks back to his right hand man who only nods his head.

"I can deal with that, but Leo is in charge," I say and get a nod from both men.

"I have an actual situation I was coming to talk with you about as well," Jake says as he looks from Leo to Clarence who hands him a folder.

"Leo, I need you to try and see if you can compare this print with this one. One is from the newspaper and the other is one Veronica had. Here is the set I want you to compare them with," I say as I pull out Liam Fitzpatrick's file from the cabinet behind my desk.

"You aren't serious are you," Jake says almost immediately.

"Yes, Veronica says that when she was hurt she was on a pool table and the guy was taunting her about a similar situation she was in back in high school. It seems she went to the River Stixs and was caught by Liam," I say leaving out some of the details. "Clarence you could help Leo while Jake talks with me. Two sets of eyes might help in this case," I say as Leo stands up.

"Of course," he says as he follows Leo out of the office closing the door.

"I sure hope this case gets solved soon. The stress isn't good for Veronica," I say.

"Keith she is stronger than we think she is," Jake says softly handing me the folder. I open it to see Duncan and Lilly Kane. I haven't thought about this boy in almost 7 years.

"What is this?" I question.

"Duncan has decided he wants to come back to the states. Keith the last few weeks with Veronica has shown me how much I miss my son. I was wondering if you would help me bring a case against the Manning's so that he would petition to come back to Neptune," Jake says softly looking directly at me.

"Jake, I don't know what I can do. He fled the country with Faith Manning. He is wanted for kidnapping," I say trying to sound reasonable.

"I know that. I have a friend in the FBI that says if there is a case brought against the Manning's for abuse, Duncan might be able to return with Lilly. It wouldn't be easy, I know that. I also know that Meg was trying to help her sister Grace out, but she died before she could get help," he says as he hands me another file. I open it to see notes and papers that Veronica had made.

"When did she do this?" I half demand.

"She was gathering the information before Meg died. Duncan and she had gathered all of this. The flash disk is the evidence Meg had complied. The other paperwork on the second flash disk is from the information Don Lamb gathered. It was encrypted, so I had some guys unencrypted it," he says as I flip through the pages.

"I remember a few of the sheets from Veronica's room. I saw them after she was questioned by the FBI when Duncan fled," I say trying to think back to the papers I found.

"I will look over all of this. I will see what I can. If there is enough evidence of what you say it's a good thing you brought this to me now. The clock is ticking on the statue of limitations," I say.

"I know with everything going on with Veronica it just hit home. She is an amazing woman. I know I never told you this, but I am sorry about everything that Lianne and I did behind your back. It ruined your marriage and hurt Veronica. I hope we can work past this. I know we may never be friends, but we were social when our girls were younger," he says standing up.

"Yes, we were. I know it also ruined your marriage with Celeste," I say as he opens the door.

"No, our marriage was long over before Lianne and I started going behind everyone's back. I married her because she was pregnant with Lilly. I never stopped loving Lianne and she knew it. I think that was why she was so hard on Lilly, it reminded her of the whole situation," he says as he walks out the door leaving me alone to look over the files before me.

****LoVe****


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Veronica**

"Mommy," Lilly says as I open my eyes. I glance over to the clock on the nightstand to see it was only 3:30 am.

"This better be life or death," I whisper to her.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," she whines as I feel her start to squirm. I remember when I started to potty train her, she would sleep with me to help remind her to get up and go.

"Come on, I still need sleep," I mumbled as I walked with her to the bathroom.

"Where you going?" Logan asks half asleep.

"Bathroom," I mutter as he lifts his head up. I flick on the night light by the plug in and sit down on a stool as she goes to the toilet. I think back on the events of the last 24 hours. I thought I had made a breakthrough in the case, but it seems not. Logan and I was about to get more involved, but not. Ugh!

"Done," Lilly says as she washes her hands.

"Let's go," I say as I head toward the bed, only to feel a hand reach mine. I jump from the contact.

"Veronica, it's just me," Logan says as he moves in front of me. "I just put Lynn in her own bed, come on Lilly," he says softly picking up the half asleep child. I watched as he left with her. I got back in the big bed, and thought about the many memories that Logan and I had made in a bed similar to this one.

"Are they asleep?" I ask when I feel the bed dip.

"Yes, they were asleep before I even laid them down," he says with a chuckle.

"I am now wide awake Lilly use to wake me up at odd hours throughout the night when she was potty training. It was so strange for her to do that just now. She hadn't woke me up in years," I say laughing.

"I can think of other ways to tire you out," he says pulling me close to him. I feel his hands slip under my tank top. I turn to look at him as he kisses me. I run my hands through his hair. "God, you taste so good," he says breaking the kiss.

"So do you," I mutter licking my lips.

"Come on, let's just snuggle," he says as I stay facing him. I had to admit I was falling back in love with him, really who am I kidding I never fell out of love with him. I was only kidding myself if I thought I could ever move on away from him, he was my very being.

I hear loud banging on a door, when I look over toward Logan he is still fast asleep. The clock on the nightstand now said it was 6:30. I get out of the bed and contemplate waking Logan up, but decide not to.

"This better be damn good," I snap as I open the door.

"You were right honey," my dad says as he brushes by me.

"I was right about what," I ask as I close the door and move to the living area where he was pacing. "Logan," I say as I gently shake him to try to wake him.

"Ronnie is everything alright," he asks as he quickly opens his eyes.

"My dad is here," I say as he looks past the door that was still open. He threw the covers off of his body and got out of bed.

"Mr. Mars, Keith," he says as my dad turns to look at him.

"Logan, Veronica was right last night Leo and Clarence were able to match the two partial prints together to the prints I had on file of Liam's," my dad says as he just drops down on the couch.

"I thought he was dead," Logan says as he sits down beside my dad pulling me with him. The realization that it was Liam was sinking in. I knew in the back of my mind that the person was familiar, but I would never think it was someone I knew.

"Well he did a good job at faking his death. I had some digging down and the medical examiner who performed his autopsy quit abruptly after doing his. We found out that he received a large payday, but his body was found a few days later," he said.

"Dad, it's going to be okay. We now know who is behind all of this," I say softly trying to ease the tension around us.

"You don't know that. Veronica Liam is after you. All of the people he has hurt is because he has a fantasy of doing that stuff to you. How can you just sit there saying its okay? Some jerk is trying to hurt you, he's trying to take my baby from me," I am blown away by my dad's sudden burst of emotion. I saw him like this last year after my accident. He was so worried and stressed at the same time that I had gotten hurt.

***LoVe****

**Logan**

It was taking all of my love for Veronica to keep my emotions in check. I hated knowing that now we actually had a person to put in the suspect spot, but if we let people know it could spook him.

"We can't release this information to the media," I say right after Keith let go.

"What, no he needs to be stopped," Veronica snaps at me angrily.

"Logan's right, if I release this information it could send Liam into hiding. I think the best way to get him is by withholding this information. Right now we know, Leo and Clarence Weidman know. Jake didn't want to know," Keith says as he looks past Veronica to me. I wonder why he didn't want to know, but refrained from asking.

"Well I guess I should let Eli know since he is here protecting you," I say as Veronica stands up.

"Yeah," she mumbles. I can see the wheels in her head are spinning and I am afraid we are not going to like what she is thinking.

"What are you thinking about?" I question her once her dad has said his good bye.

"At least you waiting until the door closed," she muses as I pull her to me. She was so beautiful in just the tank top with my boxers.

"I was trying to recall any more details from that night," she says. I am a little relived to hear that.

"I was thinking it was worse, but thank you for your honesty," I say as she lays her head on my shoulder.

"No, I wasn't thinking of doing anything stupid. I think I almost gave my dad a heart attack already," she says as there is another knock on the door.

"It better be life or death," I say as I fling the door open.

"Hey, man I thought we were hitting the waves," Dick says as Mac and their son enters the room.

"Morning Logan," Mac says as she walks right to the kitchenette grabbing water.

"Mac, and son," Veronica says as she pulls a throw blanket off of the back of the couch to cover herself up. "So what brings you all here this early in the morning," she asks as I hand her a glass of water.

"Logan was suppose to go surfing with me, but I guess he is on supervision right now," I over hear Dick say as I am putting some clothes on.

"Oh, Dick you are still a Dick. I really haven't missed a thing have I," Veronica quips back.

"Hey, Ronnie my motto is still, 'Bros before Ho's', he says laughing as I hear a smack.

"Dick, seriously Mac what did you ever see in him," I say as Veronica smiles at me.

"I knocked her up," Dick says with a smirk on his face. I am totally embarrassed because this wasn't how Mac wanted to tell Veronica the story so I slap Dick on the back of the head.

"He what, you did what," Veronica is trying to wrap her thoughts around the new information. "I think Neptune hit a twilight period. Yeah, that would explain my dad's rush to marrying Alicia and your rush. I just thought, oh my god," she whispers. I couldn't believe it Veronica Mars was speechless.

We decide to stay in and just hang out. Lynn, Lilly and Mason play video games while we talked. It was nice to just hang out. I was surprised at how at ease Veronica was with both Mac and Dick. I mean it had been 6 years since we all just hung out.

"Well that wasn't weird or anything," Veronica says as I close the door after our guests' leave taking two very animated blonde little girls with them. I was laughing on the inside because they had no clue what they were getting themselves into with them. I mean they have watched Lynn for me, but haven't really had Lilly.

"I just hope Mac, doesn't leave Dick alone with our daughters," she freezes in front of me.

"You just said 'our daughters'," she beams toward me.

"Of course they're our daughters," I say smiling down as I kiss the tip of her nose.

"I always wanted Lilly to have a sibling, but was busy with work. I didn't think I could procreate with just any one," she says seriously.

"Does this make us normal, talking about children and procreating," I quip at her as she softly hits me.

"I don't think we'll ever be normal. I heard this is an election year. Do you plan on running for Mayor again?" she asks softly as I play with a strand of her blonde locks.

"No, I think I am going to decline that. I have been thinking about working on my writing," I start as she turns to look at me.

"Writing, really," she smiles.

"I am more than just a pretty photo," I smirk. "I have always enjoyed writing, but lost focused when a certain blonde detective walked away," I say softly.

"Was I your inspiration," she asks as she places her finger on her nose. I laugh at how far we have come today with everything. I had been worried that she would hide away after hearing her dad, but she has been very forthcoming.

"I have to admit you are being very calm about all of the information from your dad," I say softly trying to keep from scaring her.

"I want to scream and run, but I am reminding myself that I have people who care and love me. I ran once before, but I also know I have to think about Lilly and I have gotten attached somewhat to Lynn," she says as she gives me a tight smile.

"I am glad you have really matured," I quip as she stands up abruptly and places her hands on her hips. She gives me a pout with full on puckered lips and a slight head tilt. That damn head tilt will be the death of me one day. "What do you want, Miss. Mars," I question as she decides to give me another just the opposite way.

"Well I was thinking we could do something different. I mean I was glad we were getting cozy last night until we were rudely interrupted by someone's children," she says with a slight smirk.

"Seriously, I thought they were both of our children. I see when they do something bad they are mine, which means if the opposite works, if they are good they're yours," I say as I pretend to ponder over the words I just spoke.

"Of course, keep up Echoll's," she smirks as she runs toward the bedroom. I catch her mid-way in and toss her on the bed. She bounces, but doesn't fall off. I run my hands over her body. She is so damn beautiful; having our daughter gave her some curves but not much. "Logan, we can go as slow as you want" she says taking my staring as I didn't want her.

"Ronnie, God don't think like that. I want nothing more than to ravish you right now, but I don't want to screw this up," I say because it sure was the truth. I didn't want to do anything that would set us back or end us. I couldn't survive again without her.

"Lo, I'm not going anywhere. I have been waiting for you to ravish my body," she says smiling. I decide in that moment to let go of my fear of her leaving me, and to try to move on from our past runs. I take my shirt off and toss it on the ground. Veronica's eyes wonder over my chiseled chest.

"See something you like," I smirk. She smiles as I help her remove her shirt. I can clearly see she wore a lacy white bra. She has her finger in her mouth biting on it. Damn she was smoking hot.

"I see some really good ice candy," she says back to me as I get off the bed going to the foot of the bed. I remove my pants showing her that I had been going commando. "Logan, you are so dirty," she smirks knowingly.

I quickly grab her feet and pull her to the foot of the bed. She is laughing at the silliness of all of this. I have her feet dangly off of the bed as I reach up and start to pull on the waistband of her pants. She lifts her feet up as I pull the last bit of fabric from her feet. I look up to see a matching pair of white lace underwear.

I know the clothing is unfair with me being naked, but I needed to feel her. I take her right foot and kiss my way up to her knee. I was silently hoping she wouldn't kick me, but she laid very still as I felt the rhythm of her breathing change. She was getting worked up, just where I wanted her. I slip one of my fingers into her wet folds and move it around. She jumps a little from the sudden intrusion.

I am pumping my finger in and out of her. I can see some wetness seeping through her lacey underwear as I pull my finger out of her.

"Logan," she snaps as I knew she was on the edge, and I left her hanging.

"Shh!" I softly say as I kiss her inner thigh near her center. I move my hands up her thighs to her waist as I begin to pull her underwear off. I look back up to her and see that she has already removed her bra. I take in the sight of her rose buds, nice and perk as I move my way up from the foot of the bed as she squirms to get back up to the top. I reach out and pull her legs back to me as I hover over her. I bend down and kiss her on the lips.

"Logan, I love you so much," she says as I reach over and dim the lights. I look back down. I don't know what I was expecting, but her eyes told me everything I needed to know. They revealed just how much to me, in this moment there was only love in them.

"Are you sure?" I ask slowly hoping she knew just how much I loved her, that I would wait for her if she wasn't ready. I felt her hand on my manhood guiding him closer to her opening. "I guess I got my answer," I say s I plunge into her. Once I hit her hilt I stopped allowing her to set the pace. She bucked slightly as I began to moving in and out of her.

I could feel her hands all over my back. I fit her sweet spot as she wrapped her legs around me pulling me more into her. Awe, it was so heavenly inside of her. I felt on moving in and out, I felt her walls clenching on me, so I thrust a few more times until she fell over the edge calling out my name. I followed shortly burying my head in her shoulder.

"That was so amazing," Veronica says softly moving her hand over my chest. I pull her closer to my side as we fall asleep exhausted from love and lust. I knew for sure after just doing what we had done there was no way I was ever letting her go. I would have to protect her with whatever I had to because she was my life now. I wouldn't survive losing her.


End file.
